Assessing Health Quality — The Case for Tracers

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Abstract
A set of specific health problems — called tracers — were selected by a set of criteria. The tracers Include otitis media and associated hearing loss, visual disorders, iron-deficiency anemia, urinary-tract infection, essential hypertension, and cancer of the cervix. When one tracer is used In a hypothetical community served by a neighborhood health center, data can be developed that demonstrate the application of the tracer method — the center, for example, is shown to care for only 11 per cent of the estimated population of hypertensive adult males in the community, and drug therapy is found not to meet minimal criteria in 30 per cent of the treated patient sample. By evaluation of the diagnostic, therapeutic, and follow-up processes of the set of tracers and the outcome of treatment, it is possible to assess the quality of routine care provided in a health-care system.

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