Receipt of Appropriate Surgical Care for Medicare Beneficiaries With Cancer

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Abstract
There is currently a major focus on improving the quality of health care in America. Quality health care means delivering the right care to the right patient at the right time. To ensure such care is provided, we must first know what the right or appropriate care is and then be able to determine whether that care was provided. The practice of health care in America varies widely across both institutions and demographic populations; this is true across specialties and disease sites.1,2 This variation may reflect 2 things: (1) a lack of knowledge about the optimal approach to care; or (2) a lack of acceptance regarding currently defined standards of care.