QUALITY PROFILES would not have been possible without our advisory board members' guidance and dedication to nurturing an understanding of how quality improvement is achieved in health care.

Special recognition also goes to the independent consultants who served as peer reviewers in the quality initiatives selection process. Their superior knowledge of managed care and the quality improvement process, coupled with their exacting but fair standards, made us confident that we were producing a resource of best practices.

We would like to extend a special note of gratitude to three individuals who contributed many long hours to writing and editing QUALITY PROFILES: Cary Sennett, MD, PhD; Gene Beed, MD of horses, zebras & unicorns, inc., for his writing; and Stephen Rosenberg, MD of PricewaterhouseCoopers, our medical editor.

We are also grateful to the health plans that participated in QUALITY PROFILES. Their willingness to share data, strategies, and insights is a testament to their commitment to improving patient care and raising quality standards in the health care industry.

Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to the numerous staff members who worked on this important project: Elizabeth Usher and Anne Kail of NCQA and Pamela Stephenson of Pfizer, for leading this initiative; Greg Pawlson, MD, Barry Scholl, Kathi Mudd, Tanu Gulati, and Jessy Petridis of NCQA and Julie Baker and Clare Kennedy of Pfizer.

NCQA and Pfizer extend our sincere thanks to all of you for your support in the pursuit of excellence.