Enhancing the Reliability of Physician Performance on Hospital Outcome Measures
Physician executives seeking to assess and improve physician performance on patient outcome measures are facing a number of specific challenges. In previous work, we have discussed the importance of using appropriate analytics to determine the extent to which variation in patient outcomes can be attributed to physicians versus other aspects of hospital care.
Research has also shown that physician-level performance profiles are frequently unreliable, due largely to small sample sizes.
Failure to appropriately handle such challenges in practice can lead to incorrect conclusions, wasteful use of limited quality improvement resources, and, in some cases, alienation of physician partners.
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