Dale Schumacher on strategic quality planning and research. Interview by Joann Grenovich-Richards.

Dale N. Schumacher, MD MPH, is president of the Rockburn Institute, a not-for-profit health services research and consulting organization. Dr. Schumacher has 25 years' experience in the fields of medicine, health services research, and consulting. He spent 3 years in the U.S. Public Health Service, where he coordinated the development of the Sickness Index Profile, an early health status measure. Dr. Schumacher also helped establish the Center for Hospital Finance and Management at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, where he was an associate director. He has held senior management positions or consulted with the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation, Holy Cross Health System, Alexian Brothers Health System, Catholic Medical Center, and Northwestern Healthcare. Currently, he is senior medical advisor to the National Business Coalition on Health and serves as clinical informatics officer for Crozer-Keystone Health System in Philadelphia. He is a board member at Kaleida Health System, Buffalo, NY. Dr. Schumacher has written more than 40 publications in the areas of medical education, medical care, quality-of-care assessment, healthcare data analysis, and reliability of chart-review data. Dr. Schumacher earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois and his master of public health degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, and was a postdoctoral fellow there in the departments of health services administration and epidemiology. He trained at The Johns Hopkins/Baltimore City Hospitals and St. Agnes Hospital. Dr. Schumacher is board certified in internal medicine.