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				 James  (Larry) Holly, MD is founder and chief executive officer of Southeast Texas  Medical Associates (SETMA), a multi-specialty practice in Beaumont, TX, and a  four-year member of the National Quality Forum. Larry Holly is a primary care  physician and leader in the adoption of healthcare information technology. NQF  caught up with him recently to discuss the impact that quality measurement has  had on clinical practice 
NQF: How has  measurement affected primary care? 
Larry: In primary care,  metrics are part of a GPS to help us know where we are and where to go. If we  want to improve, wherever we are, we have to know where we’re starting from.  Since 2009, SETMA has publicly reported on over 300 quality metrics, by  provider name, on its website. We use this information to help develop  patients’ care plans and to measure our progress in improving delivery of care  and patients’ outcomes. We also use measurement to inform our patients about  relevant standards of care and where their care may need adjustment. A robust  electronic medical record (EMR) is essential, as it makes reporting for quality  measurement incidental to the delivery of care and enables physicians to spend  more time with patients. 
NQF: Can you share  some examples from your practice? 
Larry: At SETMA, we  started using an EMR 19 years ago and quickly saw the potential to expand our  goals from documenting patient encounters to using the record to improve how we  managed patients’ care. In primary care, in particular, the data we collect and  report enables us to treat patients in a more integrated way. In the past 10  years, SETMA’s efforts have driven reductions in disparities in how health care  is provided to patients of different ethnicities and socio-economic status.  Among the more than 8,000 diabetes patients SETMA treated over 12 months in  2013 and 2014, for example, the ethnic distribution of patients with controlled  diabetes was nearly identical to the ethnic distribution of patients with  uncontrolled diabetes. SETMA also has used data to drive an intervention that  helped improve outcomes for patients with diabetes who were successfully  managing their blood sugar levels but were losing control in the last quarter  of the year because of lax diet, exercise, and medication interventions during  the holiday season. 
  NQF: What are  opportunities on the horizon? 
Larry: The future will  have more metrics and central reporting of de-identified data to look at best  practices. I see opportunity for EMRs to be designed intuitively, by  physicians, to help achieve a seamless user experience of the technology, make  it as easy as possible to follow best practices, and garner excitement in the community  about how we can continue to use metrics to improve patient care and outcomes.  I also hope that we will be able to develop methods for more quickly updating  metrics and adopting changes in medical practice. 
  
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