Physician profiling: applications for the Robert Wood Johnson Profiling Project database.

An overview of the applications and limitations of the Center for Research in Ambulatory Health Care Administration (CRAHCA) Profiling Project database funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is presented. The Profiling Project collects data from 77 practices and links organizational, provider, and patient demographics to administrative data. The Project's database has the capacity (1) to profile physicians based on the Resource Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) relative value units as a measure of work and (2) to identify practice patterns as defined by procedures used by physicians with the same diagnosis. The Project will further explore variations between physicians and specialties based on systems of care, physician specialty, and patient differences. The comparative reports generated from these data provide comparisons on selected indicators for participating practices.