American Journal of Medical Quality

Improving the delivery of health care is a national and social imperative. With the financial well-being of prac-tices and institutions increasingly linked to the quality of care delivery, the need for clinicians with quality improve-ment (QI) skills looms large. In the beginning of the quality and safety movement, it seemed as if health care organizations needed just a few physician leaders with these skills. It is now increasingly clear that we will need an army of “quality improvers ” if we are to maximize safety, quality, and value in our health care systems where change is constant. Although all QI initiatives in health care require a multidisciplinary team approach, physicians will continue to be sought out as leaders of these efforts, given their broad knowledge and clinical leadership roles. Practices and institutions not only need physicians t