American Academy Of Ophthalmology's Medical Director Of Health Policy Tapped For Role With National Quality Forum

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Article Date: 13 Jul 2010 - 5:00 PDT

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The American Academy of Ophthalmology (Academy) is proud to announce the appointment of William L. Rich III, M.D., Medical Director of Health Policy, to the National Quality Forum's (NQF) efficiency resource use project steering committee.

The NQF was established in May 1999 as a unique public-private collaborative venture. Their mission is to improve the quality of healthcare by standardizing the measurement of quality-related information and by promoting quality improvement.

The efficiency resource use project steering committee will provide guidance and lay the groundwork for future endorsement of measures of healthcare resource use that will be building blocks for measures of efficiency. This committee will also consider criteria for evaluating resource use measures and will consider current evidence and approaches for efficiency and resource use measures.

"The NQF is charged with a task that is critical to defining the future of quality patient care," said Dr. Rich. "I am honored to serve with this distinguished panel of health policy leaders."

Dr. Rich has served as the Medical Director of Health Policy with the American Academy of Ophthalmology since 2005 and has been involved in health policy, managed care and practice management for 25 years. Currently he serves as vice chair of the provider council of the National Quality Forum and representative to the Ambulatory Quality Alliance. From 2003 to 2009 he served as the chair of the American Medical Association's Resource-Based Relative Value Scale (RUC) Committee that determines the work values for all physician services, and also chaired the Resource Subcommittee that investigated new ethnographic and quantitative approaches to physician work. He has also participated on several Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science panels concerning the "Future of Fee for Service Medicare," "Economic Incentives for Promoting Quality" and "Health Outcomes Measures as a Determinant of Patient Choice."

He has served on the Academy's Committee of Secretaries as the Secretary for Federal Affairs and has played an active role in numerous other Academy activities since the 1970s. Dr. Rich is a founder and was an executive committee member of the nation's largest national subspecialty Preferred Provider Organization and of a local Independent Physicians Association.

Dr. Rich is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University and received his medical degree from Georgetown in 1972. He completed a rotating internship at San Francisco General Hospital and completed a residency in ophthalmology at Georgetown, where he now serves on the clinical faculty. He practices currently as the senior partner with Northern Virginia Ophthalmology Associates.

Source:
American Academy of Ophthalmology

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