Using provider practice profiles as preventative care for medical costs.

In an era of escalating healthcare costs, healthcare organization managers are looking for new ways to be cost-effective. With the advent of mandated reform, we need to understand how physicians are treating patients, and the cost of that care, to stay competitive. The topic of provider practice profiles has been prominent lately, as indicated by an article and editorial in the Mar. 3, 1994 issue of New England Journal of Medicine. At Community Care Network Inc., or CCN, we have been studying practice patterns for nearly five years.