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Previous Volume 357:111-113 July 12, 2007 Number 2 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Massachusetts recently joined New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania in reporting death rates associated with cardiac surgery for individual surgeons — another wave in the tide of public reporting that is sweeping the country. Such reporting raises questions about distinguishing the goals that define one's work from the targets used to measure success. For hospitals and physicians, minimizing death and complications is an undisputed goal. But is zero the ideal target for measures of performance with respect to death and complications?

In this era of public accountability, the answers to questions such as this turn out to be surprisingly complex. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Dr. Lee is network president at Partners Healthcare System and an associate editor of the Journal, Dr. Torchiana is chief executive officer of Massachusetts General Physicians Organization and associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Lock is cardiologist in chief at Children's Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School — all in Boston.

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