P.S.R.O., quality of care, and research

A necessary condition for achieving the legislative goals of Public Law 92-603, which created the Professional Standards Review Organizations, is the proper evaluation of the system of providing medical care. Peer review as currently constituted does not provide a proper evaluation. This article shows why present practices are not satisfactory, presents an outline of a minimally satisfactory evaluation system, and concludes by showing that many of the criticisms made of P.S.R.O.s are deficient, and that peer review has the potential for resulting in some improvement in the quality of medical care.