A study of Press Ganey surveys found that patients gave higher scores to their physicians if they shared the same race/ethnicity. Eighty-eight percent of physicians received the maximum rating on the patient experience survey from patients of the same race/ethnicity. This was compared to 82% receiving the maximum rating from patients of a different race/ethnicity.

Historically, quality and peer review processes have been developed separately and lived in siloed departments. Yet, oftentimes, the quality department and medical staff services department are doing the same work related to peer review and quality improvement. In his recent webinar, "The Intersection of Quality and Peer Review," speaker Mark A. Smith, MD, MBA, FACS, explored how to realign these departments to minimize duplicative work while also ensuring your peer review processes remain effective, efficient, and unbiased. The following is the Q&A from that webinar.