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Why is it important to measure appropriateness of medical interventions, not just quality?

HealthcareMeasurementPolicy & Ethics

Drawn from Lutz Finger's Forbes column, LinkedIn writing, and Cornell teaching. Sources are cited inline so you can read the originals.

Fee-for-service payment can incentivize unnecessary procedures.

As Marty Makary told me, it is not sufficient to just measure the quality of medical procedures, but we also need to evaluate the appropriateness of these interventions. The current fee-for-service payment structure might encourage some doctors to perform multiple surgeries rather than one, as they are paid per procedure. Transparency in correcting misalignments is key. This is why utilization metrics look at whether someone should have gotten a given intervention in the first place.

Healthcare And Data - How To Measure Quality · Forbes


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