When the RCR is established, with a pool of physician users and patient data, individual practitioners and physician groups will be able to evaluate their practice patterns in comparison with aggregated data from colleagues across the country—similar to the data and nationwide metrics already available to oncologists and cardiologists. It is the ACR’s hope this will lead to improvements in care delivery.
“We are at a disadvantage [in relation] to our European colleagues who have the benefit of patient registries,” says David Borenstein, MD, treasurer of the ACR and a partner in Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates in Washington, D.C. “The best way for rheumatologists to assess how well treatments work is to have a means by which we can collect, tabulate, and analyze data from large populations. To stay at the forefront of our discipline, it is vital to have access to this kind of information.”
As the RCR matures, it will also assist the ACR in promulgating its own quality measures and leading the rheumatology quality debate. “We have developed a number of quality indicators, but what is lacking is data showing that they alter patient outcomes,” says Dr. Cohen. “As we start to accumulate data, we will be able to determine their utility. Our hope is that this will lead to the ACR developing quality standards in conjunction with other national organizations and the end of multiple insurance companies handing down multiple standards” with which rheumatologists must comply.
Kurt Ullman is a freelance writer based in Indiana.