practice variation

Abstract: The Multi-Network Practice and Outcome Variation (MPROVE) Study supports investigations of the causes and consequences of variation in public health service delivery through collecting a standardized set of delivery measures across more than 300 local practice settings in 6 states. The measures characterize volume, intensity, quality, efficiency, and equity of service delivery in three core domains of chronic disease prevention, communicable disease control, and environmental health protection.

Abstract: Accreditation is one of the newest instruments in the public health system’s toolbox for reducing undesirable variation in practice, and perhaps also for promoting desirable variation. The ability to define standards of practice, measure conformity with standards, and create incentives for achieving conformity has proved to be a powerful force for quality improvement, accountability and consumer protection in other areas of the U.S. health system as well as in other governmental and private sectors. So how do we know when and where to standardize vs.