Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/51232
corporations agree to work together to influence healthcare quality and affordability. 2000: The National Quality Forum (NQF), a non-profit, Washington DC-based organiza- tion, determines that healthcare quality improvement requires a systematic approach that includes a consistent strategy, standardized measures of performance, and a structured reporting methodology. 2003: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), issues its first National Healthcare Quality Report, which concludes that healthcare quality in the United States is neither universal nor consistent. 2006: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) establishes the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) as part of a physician quality reporting/eligible provider incen- tive payment system. 2009: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains, among its provisions, incen- tives for eligible providers to implement a certified electronic medical record system and use it to fulfill a number of "meaningful use" requirements. Even without including the wide range of initiatives and programs designed and sponsored by physi- cian organizations, this extremely abbreviated timeline is meant to illustrate how consumer groups, private and public agencies, and professional organizations are redrawing the healthcare land- scape. Which leads to: 2010: The Quality Alliance, a program specially designed by the Cleveland Clinic Community Physician Partnership (CPP), is established to provide a physician- led mechanism through which independent physicians in private Pictured (left) Carli Cole and (right) David Brill, DO practice and Cleveland Clinic phy- sicians can collaborate to improve the quality and consistency of the care they deliver, reduce costs, and increase efficiency. With so many different voices par- ticipating in our national healthcare conversation, the Quality Alliance is an opportunity for physicians to come together in a collaborative network integrated through physi- cian-developed clinical protocols, a secure data repository, and the kind of reporting capabilities that can help Northeast Ohio health plans and employers better recognize the value of the care delivered by member physicians. For more information about the CPP Quality Alliance, please cal l 216.986.1277, or emai l CPPCustomerService@ccf.org. To find out how the MyPractice Communit y elect ronic medi- cal record system can work for your private physician practice, please call 216.738.4617, or visit www.clevelandclinic.org/mpc. ■ "I've been in practice long enough to remember the excitement we felt when we considered the potential that computers had to improve both the practice of medicine and its delivery . With the Quality Alliance, we are beginning to experience the future we had envisioned." – David Brill, DO