Dr. Bartels: In 2021, Dr. Yazdany invited me to co-chair the ACR’s CDC-funded project to identify lupus quality measures and patient-reported outcomes (PRO). Working with Patti Katz, PhD, April Jorge, MD, and ACR staff, we convened a Delphi committee to derive longitudinal lupus quality measures, a PRO working group and a national patient advisory group. Seeing how the ACR RISE registry supports 25 current measures as well as robust processes for developing new, meaningful, rheumatology-specific measures has inspired me as we define the next chapter. Moreover, that project inspired me to partner with other ACR volunteers to develop a quality and equity roadmap along with QMS and the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, recognizing that there is no quality without equity, nor equity without quality.
TR: What plans and goals do you have for the RHIT Committee after the next year or so?
Dr. Bartels: Beyond current initiatives to investigate and improve quality and equity using RISE, ACR’s RHIT team is in the process of defining an operational and strategic roadmap for registry administration, finance and strategic priorities in the years to come. I am excited to help lead that work with Tracy Johansson (senior director of RISE for the ACR) and to invite others to dive in with us, imagining how to advance quality and equity and support ACR members in even more specialty-specific, value-based care, research and practice innovation facilitation.
TR: What originally prompted your interest in rheumatology?
Dr. Bartels: My paternal grandma, Doris, was a hilarious, feisty mother of three sons who helped on the family farm despite suffering for years before her rheumatoid arthritis was diagnosed. Getting a proper diagnosis and treatment changed her life. It has been my absolute pleasure working with patients over the years to likewise help get them back to what they love. I enjoy diagnostic sleuthing in rheumatology, and I love the longitudinal relationships.
TR: Anything else you’d like fellow ACR members to know?
My favorite non-big data EHR use is that I have been known to exchange poems and book titles with patients in the patient portal. I am grateful to care for patients and to use big data to improve care at scale, and I cherish connections with patients and colleagues in the ACR that add meaning to amplify this work and our universal connectedness.
Vanessa Caceres is a medical writer in Bradenton, Fla.
