The cost of teaching residents outpatient obstetrics and gynecology in a university medical center.

Objective: To quantify the cost of teaching residents ambulatory obstetrics and gynecology, expressed as the difference in revenue generated between a faculty physician practicing as a private practitioner and a faculty physician serving as a resident supervisor.

Method: Outpatient revenue generated by faculty generalists and residents was analyzed. The net gain in revenue was calculated per half-day session for faculty and residents by subtracting contractual allowances and expenses from gross patient charges.

Assessing information for consumers on the quality of medical care.

In recent years support for better public information on the quality of medical care has intensified, while the validity of the information available has been questioned. To address these concerns, we evaluated the reliability and validity of using each of 10 possible indicators to measure hospital and physician quality and the feasibility of providing the results to the public. We found that several of these indicators can provide useful, though not definitive, information on quality.