Neurosurgical Quality Metrics: Seeking the Right Question

Quality of care measurement was a late addition to managed care. As a small specialty, neurosurgery quality of care metrics have a low priority for Medicare and other health care payers. Frequency of complications of glioma surgery derived from a large administrative database can be used as a quality measure, but the results may be inaccurate and inadequate. Prospective voluntary outcome registries offer a better alternative.