PCORI Welcomes Barbara J. McNeil, MD, PhD, to Its Board of Governors

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) today welcomed the Comptroller General’s selection of Barbara J. McNeil, MD, PhD, to become the newest member of PCORI’s Board of Governors.

McNeil is a professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She also founded the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and served as its first chair. She currently holds the title of Ridley Watts Professor in the department.

McNeil’s research career has focused on issues such as the effectiveness of new technologies, the development and implementation of quality measures, and the role of financial incentives and managerial practices in assuring healthcare quality.

Recently, she helped lead a large study comparing the quality of care experienced by veterans with cardiac disease with the quality experienced by Medicare beneficiaries seen in private settings. The resulting findings led to several changes in the care of such veterans and prompted a similar study on cancer care.

McNeil has worked with the national Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association to evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions that its plans have undertaken to increase quality and decrease cost. She chaired a committee convened by the Institute of Medicine that outlined the framework for a national program designed to optimize the use of evidence to identify effective healthcare services.

“PCORI will benefit greatly from the insights that Barbara McNeil will bring from her many years of experience leading efforts to find out what works best for patients given their needs and circumstances,” said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. “Her leadership in the development of quality measures and her collaborative relationships with healthcare providers, payers, and federal agencies in her research efforts will all serve as valuable assets in helping PCORI to advance patient-centered outcomes research.”

“We look forward to working with such a distinguished and accomplished colleague as Dr. McNeil in our efforts to achieve PCORI’s mission to support robust comparative clinical effectiveness research,” said Board Chair Grayson Norquist, MD, MSPH, Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “Her extensive healthcare policy research experience will complement well the diverse backgrounds of our Board members and we look forward to learning from her rich perspectives.”

Dr. McNeil received her AB degree from Emmanuel College, her MD from Harvard Medical School, and her PhD from Harvard University. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Comptroller General and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, who is responsible for appointing Board members, selected McNeil to replace outgoing member Arnold Epstein, MD. Epstein became ineligible to continue on the Board after joining the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the new Deputy Assistant Secretary and head of the Office of Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.