Patients’ outcomes are the best measures of the quality of doctors
for the public, the patients and the doctors themselves. For
the public, outcomes assessment is a measure of accountability
that provides reassurance that the doctor is performing well in
practice. For the individual patients, it supplies a basis for deciding
which doctor to see. For the doctors, it offers reassurance that
their assessment is tailored to their unique practice and based
on real-work performance. Despite the fact that an assessment
of outcomes is highly desirable, at least five substantial problems
remain. These are attribution, complexity, case mix, numbers and
detection