Quality assurance and data collection: current status, problems, and pitfalls.

1. It is important to measure and improve quality of care, particularly in this era of cost consciousness. 2. It is difficult to measure quality of care. 3. Current data collection systems have many inconsistencies and errors. 4. Statistical analysis cannot correct bad data. 5. Data based solely on DRG analysis are highly suspect. 6. Measurement of acuity of illness on admission is important for valid comparisons of outcomes. 7. We have a moral and ethical obligation to strive for better systems of measuring quality and to inform the public of the results of such measurements when they become sufficiently accurate.