It is the objective of this project to develop and field test a set of assessment techniques that will provide quantitative measures useful in the periodic examination of the performance of primary care organizations. The methodology is meant to be a tool for determining the degree to which a basic level of care appropriate to a particular population is available and being received, with what results (at least from the standpoint of satisfaction and where possible, from the perspective of level of health as well), and at what cost. It is intended to give primary care institutions a means of assessing the services they are delivering and to serve the needs of groups such as employers and unions contracting for health care and concerned that the various options they offer their constituents are providing care of acceptable quality. The principal tasks of 1973-74 have been an extensive review of both the theoretical and methodological literature in the field of quality assessment and in the relevant areas of clinical medicine, health services research, evaluation, medical sociology, and economics; the development of the framework for quality assessment; the selection of measures appropriate to each of the "dimensions" of the framework; and the design of data collection instruments and the format for data analysis. During 1974-75 the assessment techniques will be field-tested in three different primary care settings to determine the availability of necessary data and the feasibility of measures chosen and to provide initial estimates of the selected measures. Necessary modifications will be incorporated into a final set of assessment techniques to be prepared during the Spring of 1975. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the George Washington University School of Medicine, the National Medical Association Foundation, Group Health Association, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.