The survey has the promise to give you the information you need to ensure the survival of your practice and to allow you to continue to thrive. We are at the threshold of mammoth reversioning of medical practices and investigation. Perhaps we are in rheumatology version 2.0 or maybe 10.0. The Benchmark Tool can help you leverage yourself or your organization in the next version.
The ACR will carefully analyze these data to publish a report summarizing the information each year and this de-identified report will be made available to the ACR membership. Our hope is that information gathered by the tool will lead to projects aimed at addressing workforce development, evolving payment reforms, increasing practice efficiency and improving quality of care.
“The ACR Benchmark Tool is a superb resource to help the ACR collect and analyze data on the rheumatology workforce and identify local and membership-wide trends and performance issues that can be addressed by the ACR and its committees,” says Marcy B. Bolster, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and chair of the ACR Committee on Rheumatology Training and Workforce Issues. “I hope each ACR member will complete the 2014 Benchmark Tool when it is released in September, so the ACR can better serve the needs of the rheumatology workforce.”
I strongly encourage everyone to complete the 2014 ACR Benchmark Tool when it becomes available in September. It’s imperative that we increase participation in order to track practice trends and workforce supply over time and identify issues being faced by rheumatologists nationwide. The more members who participate, the more representative and useful the deductions the ACR can make about the health of our subspecialty and the conclusions about your own situation relative to your peers. Your participation will Advance Rheumatology!
Dr. Joseph Flood is a rheumatologist at the Columbus Arthritis Center and adjunct associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, both in Columbus. Contact him at flood@rheumatology.org.