Managed Care - April 2008 - (Page 39) Q&A A Conversation With Bruce Bagley, MD Doctors, Too, Must Embrace Data Reporting and Analysis A national leader in physician quality improvement believes providers should be judged on the services they provide PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERI PORTER/AAFP r formance over pedigree is how Bruce Bagley, MD, the medical director for quality improvement, would like to see physicians talk about the quality of care they provide. That means being able to use data to report how well their patients are doing just as readily as they cite their board certification and the medical schools they attended. “Knowledge is important, but we also have to show that we are performing, instead of just assuming it,” he says. As a family physician in a small group practice in Latham, N.Y., an Albany suburb, Bagley saw firsthand how electronic medical records could streamline and strengthen a practice. And when he served as president of the AAFP from 1999 to 2000 and as board chair from 2000 to 2001, he worked to solidify the group’s commitment to quality improvement and electronic medical records. He accepted the role of the AAFP’s first medical director for quality improvement in 2003. Today he encourages members to monitor performance and use information to improve care, and he guides the AAFP’s efforts to provide tools and resources that can help. Bagley also collaborates with other national organizations on standardizing quality measurements and promoting initiatives such as the medical home concept. He spoke recently with MANAGED CARE Editor John Marcille. MANAGED CARE: Are physicians, for the most part, in favor of efforts to measure and improve quality? Pe BRUCE BAGLEY: Traditional physician leader- ship has been about “advocate and protect,” and in some cases this is perceived as a harm that physicians need to be protected from. But many organizations are very supportive. The American College of Cardiology has been deeply involved in quality improvement and evidencebased standards for a long time, and the AAFP has been promoting quality improvement and implementation of electronic medical records for more than 10 years. So this is probably getting a little more press than it used to, but it’s not a new concept. What we need is physician lead- APRIL 2008 / MANAGED CARE 39
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