The hubris of health status measurement: a clarification of its role in the assessment of medical care.

Numerous advances in health status measurement have occurred in the past several years. Of the many challenges, one, in particular, is important for any health reform proposal to succeed. That is, while many researchers point to health status measures as a means of evaluating outcomes of competing health plans, this paper outlines difficulties with such a proposal. The paper then provides different suggestions for dealing with this important issue. Most notably, a community based health status assessment is recommended.