The Panel's first task is to review the identified clinical areas (hip/knee replacement, cataract surgery, general surgery, children's mental health, and MRI scanning) to determine which procedures warrant further investigation. The original WCWL tool(s) would be used as a starting point, to adapt for primary care utilization.

The contents of the adapted tools will be determined by consensus and item weights will be determined through pilot testing. The beta tools will be subject to test-retest and inter-rater reliability testing and implemented on a trial basis in selected primary care practices.

A team of WCWL associates and colleagues directed by Dr. Carolyn DeCoster will provide methodological support to the Panel and conduct the necessary empirical and analytical work. A review of the literature will be conducted and summarized for the panel members. Areas of expertise include: epidemiology, psychometric measurement; biostatistics; and ethics.

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