UNASSIGNED: 280 Background: @entity1 outcomes are the most valid measures of quality of care. Public reporting makes them available to @entity1 , referring physicians and payers. Our institution has committed to reporting all @entity5 @entity1 outcomes. In carrying out that objective, we encountered novel analytical issues arising from differences between the usually reported treatments, surgical procedures, and @entity5 care. We present important conceptual issues we identified. METHODS: Analytic description of methodological issues encountered in @entity5 @entity1 outcomes. RESULTS: Issues include: (1) Assigning responsibility. @entity1 outcomes of @entity5 care can be influenced by multiple oncology specialties and institutions. While providers directly control only the treatment they provide, providers share collective responsibility for executing the treatment plan, coordinating care and vouching for the quality of collaborating providers. Therefore, reporting outcomes of one element of multidisciplinary care is incomplete and inadequate. (2) Claiming responsibility. Providers with institutional affiliations but no involvement in quality improvement or reporting processes should be excluded from public reporting. Minimum requirements to qualify for public institutional affiliation should be enforced and "free riders" identified. (3) Defining and presenting valid comparison populations. Treatment trials' eligibility criteria and recruitment practices exclude poorer prognosis @entity1 , producing biased comparisons to complete "registry" populations that distort @entity1 expectations. Publishing outcomes of well-characterized subpopulations improves valid results and provides more individualized information. CONCLUSIONS: Reporting @entity1 outcomes after @entity5 care raises novel conceptual issues. We discuss our response to three important issues.

Public reporting outcomes of XXXX care: Conceptual issues.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients', 'patient', 'Patient'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['publishing cancer', 'multidisciplinary cancer', 'cancer']
@entity5 :: (MESH:D009369,Disease) :: ['multidisciplinary cancer']
