The Council would particularly like to thank its Technical Advisory Group members, and especially their Chairman, Dr. David Nash, for their dedicated assistance in creating this report.
The Council would also like to thank its Clinical Advisory Panel, its Payor Advisory Group, the Joint Committee on Health Care Data of the Hospitaland Healthsystems Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Osteopathic Medical Association, as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Department of Public Welfare, Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania, the Managed Care Association of Pennsylvania, and MediQual Systems, Inc. for their assistance and support throughout this process. Finally, we want to acknowledge the many hospital staff, physicians, and payors who checked and rechecked their data. Without their efforts, this report would not have been possible.