Christie Bartels, MD, MS, Works to Advance Health IT for Better Patient Care

Christie Bartels, MD, MS, has been active with ACR committees for more than seven years. With a special interest in implementation science and health information technology (IT), Dr. Bartels, Rheumatology Division Chief and associate professor in the Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, will share her interest in health IT while serving as chair of the Committee on Registries & Health Information Technology (RHIT). Here, Dr. Bartels shares her ACR committee work background with The Rheumatologist.

The Rheumatologist (TR): Could you explain what the RHIT does?

Dr. Bartels

Dr. Bartels: RHIT works to advance health IT in rheumatology toward safe, efficient, effective, equitable, patient-centered care. We oversee the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry for quality improvement and research, which also informs rheumatology data standards and value-based payment innovation. RISE data helped validate all 25-plus ACR quality measures, supporting the work of the ACR Quality Measures Subcommittee (QMS) and practices. RISE data also helped inform the first ACR lupus quality measures we published in 2023 through a Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) grant. Moreover, RHIT members are working with electronic health records (EHR) vendors and technology partners through projects like RheumCode, seeking data standardization for care and quality reporting to improve the lives of patients and providers.

TR: What prompted your interest in becoming chair of RHIT?

Dr. Bartels: I originally joined RHIT in 2016 under chairs Dino Kazi, MD, and Jinoos Yazdany, MD, MPH. I also served as the QMS liaison, joined the RHIT Research & Publications Subcommittee in 2019 and became chair of that group from 2020–2023. Given my background in health services and implementation science research using EHR and big data to improve preventive care, RHIT and its subcommittees resonated with my love of learning and interest in improving rheumatology care delivery at scale.

More broadly, active involvement in ACR committees offered me opportunities to network with inspiring peers, like Drs. Kazi and Yazdany through RHIT and Lisa Suter, MD, through the QMS, to work toward improving care and outcomes for patients nationally. Working with such incredibly talented volunteers and dedicated ACR staff has been icing on the cake.

TR: Could you say a little about your work with the ACR Quality Measures Subcommittee and other subcommittees and how that work supports your upcoming role with RHIT?