Patient bills provide a way to monitor quality of care.
Reverse protocols give chief financial officers a role in quality assurance. Under this system, department heads determine when technology, tests, and services should be used. Financial staff then check billing data to see if the procedures ordered follow protocol for a patient's diagnosis. This enables financial administrators to monitor the technology used and its effect on quality, without creating turf battles with clinicians.
D000066:Accounting; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005376:Financial Management; D005377:Financial Management, Hospital; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010350:Patient Credit and Collection; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States