Variation in diagnostic test requests and outcomes: a preliminary metric for OpenPathology.net.

ABSTRACT: Efforts to reduce healthcare costs have led to the development of metrics to identify unwarranted variation in care. Previous work assessing diagnostic tests is limited, despite their substantial contribution to expenditure. We explored C-reactive Protein (CRP) and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) tests ordered across Oxfordshire NHS General Practices, and the proportion of tests that yielded an abnormal result, and identified practices that had a proportion of abnormal CRP and ESR results 3 standard deviations below the mean. We estimated the adjusted average proportion of abnormal CRP and ESR tests that yielded abnormal results from each practice, after adjusting for differences in practice populations. These proportions were plotted against the total CRP and ESR requests per practic

SUBMITTER: O'Sullivan JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5859290 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature