We now have an awful lot of data. We need to make it useful. That's where doctors come in. Some things can be well-measured. But their optimum use has yet to be defined.
Information is only of benefit when used.
People must be encouraged to use data, it must be useful and people must be convinced it won't be used to harm their facilities if they are in under-achieving hospitals. Specific facilities and their doctors will become more responsible to explain why lengths of stay are above average. Doctors' concerns Doctors have welcomed report cards less than enthusiastically, admitted Dr. Ted Boadway, executive director of the Ontario Medical Association's health policy department. One reason is that many worry they'll be targetted by the results. Dr. Brian Gamble, chief of staff at the Kent Health Alliance in Chatham, Ont., who is an MBA candidate at Tulane University in New Orleans, agreed the profession's attitude toward report cards needs work.