Options for assessing PPO quality: Accreditation and profiling as accountability strategies

This article examines and discusses various alternatives for measuring the quality of care and services provided by preferred provider organizations ( PPOs). The topic is approached from both a conceptual and a practical persp ective, outlining key assumptions that underlie the desire to measure the q uality of PPOs, while considering the current limitations and difficulties associated with existing PPO arrangements. Although the article does not pr ovide normative judgments about which approach is best, it attempts to high light the advantages and disadvantages of possible approaches in an unbiase d manner. Significant attention is given to accreditation and profiling as possible methods for assessing the quality of care in PPOs.