Physician profiling: trends and implications.

Every professional is subject to profiling, and most are profiled more rigorously, more thoroughly, and more dispassionately than are physicians. Profiling occurs when society has the technologies and the economic incentives to perform profiling. In the first of this two-part article, we will consider trends in profiling all professionals and those in profiling physicians. We conclude in the second part of the article with a discussion of the specific methodologies and vendors used in profiling the practice habits of physicians.