Private Initiative in PSRO

Abstract

Private initiative in PSRO (Pl) is a privately funded joint effort by five major professional organizations to influence the implementation of PSRO on behalf of the public interest. Working with five PSRO's, PI is testing a form of concurrent quality assurance and its effect on the immediate outcomes of hospital care. The project also promotes and evaluates participation in local PSRO's by representatives of the general public. The operating costs of PSRO's and their impact on hospital utilization and reimbursements by Medicare and Medicaid are being prospectively determined. A central issue addressed by PI is growing encroachment by the central administration of PSRO on private medicine's traditional responsibility for assuring the quality of care. PI seeks improved means of rendering a satisfactory public accounting in quality assurance as an alternative to federal regulation of this elemental professional function.