Interrelationships of physician performances: technical quality and utilization and implications for quality and utilization controls.

The study determined the intrarelationships and interrelationships of two sets of physician performance measures: technical quality and utilization of medical resources. The performance measures were based on 2,431 episodes in 15 diagnostic categories involving 454 physicians. A series of correlations were used to determine these relationships. The technical performance of physicians for prehospitalization, hospitalization, and posthospitalization care were found to be positively related (r=.38). The interrelationships between efficient utilization and technical quality were also positive (r=.22). There appears to be some homogeneity in the performance in the areas of technical quality and utilization patterns, but this is not strong enough to allow substitution one for another. It is therefore recommended that efforts to control or measure quality of care and utilization patterns need to be directed to each aspect of physician performances.