Quality control and quality assurance of medical committee performance in the Israel Defense Forces

Purpose – The paper aims to focus on a unique quality control system that was set up ten years ago to evaluate Medical Classification Committee decision‐making processes at the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conscription center.Design/methodology/approach – Two main approaches were deployed by the control system to assess medical classification committees' performance. The first was direct assessment of the medical committees' clinical work and decision‐making processes. The second applied data mining procedures to the computerized medical databases. The functional classification codes (FCCs) – codes for the most common medical disorders assigned to male recruits from the central computerized central IDF database, the sub‐districts comprising the recruitment centers, and the chairmen assigning the FCCs to recruits – were all analyzed.Findings – A total of 26 FCCs, each indicating a common medical problem and its severity, constituted approximately 90 percent of all FCCs assigned at recruitment centers betwee...