1999 facility Profile Reports.

In November 1999, the Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalitions (MARC) developed and distributed its first version of a facility-specific Profile Report to the medical directors and head nurses of dialysis facilities in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. The profiles were distributed to support the facilities' internal quality improvement efforts and were not intended to be released as public documents. Facility characteristic and profiling indicators were selected based on the availability, reliability, and value of the data. The Profile Report consisted of 2 data displays with corresponding definition tables. An evaluation mechanism was discussed, but it was determined that the initial report would not be formally evaluated and that this would be included as a feature of future versions. Future versions will be expanded, as additional data become available, and will include rankings and data trending where appropriate.