We also hope QUALITY PROFILES will provide deeper insight into the QI process. There are some underlying themes that appear to be common to a successful quality initiative, regardless of the plan size, structure or location. We point these out throughout the text in an effort to help health care plans to not only strengthen specific QI initiatives, but also to understand how to build an effective QI process.

Finally, we hope QUALITY PROFILES will continue to help the public recognize that managed care provides a framework within which health care quality can be systematically improved, and that many organizations are working hard in pursuit of excellence. In QUALITY PROFILES, you will find example after example of that commitment and success. We believe it is essential to recognize, reward and facilitate the pursuit of excellence. We believe QUALITY PROFILES can help do that.