To be sure, there are some real advantages to publicly available metrics of surgeon success and of hospital mortality rates. Their publication can point out very poor performers, who may then cease practicing, in the case of surgeons—a sifting process all the more valuable in a profession in which practitioners are reluctant to dismiss incompetent fellow members of the guild. Or the lower-level performers can take steps to improve their measured performance, in the case of hospitals.
Should only be acted on in cases outside of Deming's statistical control
