Developing Health Policy That Drives Compassion in a Value-Driven Health Care System

Mary Atkinson Smith¹

• ¹Mary Atkinson Smith, DNP, MSHLP, APRN, FAANP, is a doctoral-prepared, board-certified nurse practitioner with 24 years in nursing, with 20 years as a family nurse practitioner. She is certified as an orthopedic nurse practitioner and in perioperative nursing. She has firsthand experience in health care innovation and policy related to health care access, quality improvement, and patient safety. Dr Smith has developed various care coordination models for the rural elderly and disabled homebound populations. She is also a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow in the National Academies of Practice and a National Rural Health Association Policy Fellow. Dr Smith is currently serving as one of the 10 clinicians in the first ever cohort of Clinician Champions for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Serves (CMS) where she is serving to support and promote the Quality Payment Program, in addition to serving on a CMS technical expert panel related to the development of outpatient quality measures. Dr Smith has also served as co-chair of the National Academies of Practice Office of the National Coordinator stakeholder group that is focusing on health information technology and reducing clinician burden in the clinical practice setting. She also has 8 years of academic teaching and 17 years of administrative health care experience. Throughout her clinical practice background, Dr Smith has participated in meaningful use and quality reporting from the standpoint of rural health, in addition to providing remote care to patients via telehealth and home-based care delivery.