Profiling Providers to Evaluate Health System Change

• Activity Number: 328
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 5, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Health Policy Statistics Section
• Author(s): Frank Yoon*+
• Companies: Mathematica Policy Research
• Keywords: profiling ; health care system ; observational studies ; hierarchical model

Abstract

A major cornerstone of health care reform is rapid innovation in health service delivery and payment models that aim to improve the efficiency of patient care for better outcomes and reduced costs. These innovations are typically evaluated in demonstrations, essentially observational studies, in which provider entities implement innovations in one or more sites, such as practices and hospitals. Provider profiling is typically used to compare the performance of these sites on their patient outcomes and overall costs. We discuss the basic components of system dynamics in the evaluation of health system change, connect them to statistical concepts, and motivate the use of provider profiling as a key tool in the framework, including necessary assumptions. We illustrate the use of provider profiling in several leading examples about health system interventions.