NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT - PROBABILISTIC MODELS FOR GOLD STANDARDS

Advances in fundamental measurement have led to many exciting new deve lopments in functional assessment. This paper presents fundamental mea surement theory and method in summary form, and briefly describes its various applications to functional assessment, program evaluation, and outcomes analysis in physical medicine and rehabilitation. The implic ations of computerized medical records and longitudinal patient tracki ng in national or global computer networks for functional status and h ealth status gold standards are briefly addressed.