The role of the principal clinical coordinator in the Health Care Financing Administration's Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative.

: The Health Care Quality Improvement Initiative (HCQII) is the Health Care Financing Administration's latest approach to quality management by peer review organizations (PROs) of the health care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. The principal clinical coordinator (PCC) of each PRO, a physician with both clinical and methodological expertise, has the overall responsibility for all HCQII-related activities. The PCC works with a clinical coordinating team to analyze patterns of care and provide feedback about these patterns to the medical community for the purpose of improving the quality of care. Each PRO provides its PCC with the necessary infrastructure and expertise to conduct pattern analyses and implement the dissemination process. However, the effectiveness of the HCQII will depend largely on the PCC's ability to maintain the full support and cooperation of the local medical community. The success of the PCC role under the HCQII may enable it to serve as a useful model of physician leadership in the quality oversight organizations that will accompany national health care reform.