New quality questions raise specter of physician office oversight

An unenforced 1986 regulation mandating reviews of physicians' private offices by peer review organizations will likely result in the first physician office reviews soon. More surgical procedures are taking place in physicians' offices than previously, and a recent report of the Dept of Health and Human Services concluded that greater quality assurance is necessary due to findings of insufficiently documented and inappropriate procedures. The results of three pilot projects, which will be analyzed in Nov 1993, will pave the way for physician office review methods.
A recent study and the results of several pilot projects could rouse long-hibernating federal regulations calling for PRO physician-office reviews. Organized medicine has been hoping that wake-up call would never [...]