The Department of Defense Civilian External Peer Review Program: an interim report.

During a 2-year period (December 1987-December 1989), 165 Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals world-wide provided 71,800 cases with 83,197 reviews for quality of care evaluations by the Civilian External Peer Review Program (CEPRP). The majority (78,246 of 79,896) of completed peer review determinations (97.9%) generated agreement with care and documentation. It is concluded that health care in military treatment facilities is of high quality, meeting and generally exceeding accepted standards of care. It is also concluded that the DoD CEPRP offers conceptual and practical experience to guide the further evolution and integration of clinical peer review and quality improvement activities.