Russell S. Phillips, MD
Research Concentrations
- Creating and evaluating innovations in primary care designed to improve quality and safety, efficiency, cost-savings, patient experience and outcomes, and/or physician and staff experience/burnout
- Evaluating the costs of primary care and advanced primary care services
- Evaluating the value of primary care
Professional Biography
Russell S. Phillips is a practicing primary care physician and Senior Advisor on Innovation in Primary Care for the Division of General Medicine at BIDMC. He was the Founding Director of the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Center for Primary Care, and the William Applebaum Professor of Medicine during his time directing the Center. Currently, he is Professor of Medicine and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Phillips is a leader in innovation in practice and payment evaluation in primary care, implementing new care models for patients with chronic illness and, using micro-simulation, evaluating the revenues available to support innovations in care and the proportion of patients paid through capitation needed to transition practices to high value, population-based care. Phillips and his colleagues evaluated the effect of increased primary care payment in Rhode Island on total medical costs and quality. He is a coauthor on studies that evaluated the relation between the availability of primary care physicians at the county level and life expectancy, the effect of increasing the number of primary care physicians in shortage areas on life expectancy in those areas, and the link between having a primary care physician and life expectancy in patients over the age of 65. These studies demonstrated that primary care access increases life expectancy but, in areas with fewer primary care physicians, contributes to the reduction in life expectancy. These studies were cited by the NASEM report on primary care which redefined primary care as a “common good” which should be available to all persons. Further, Dr. Phillips’ work on the connection between having a primary care physician in older patients and life expectancy demonstrates the critical importance of improving primary care access at a time when our primary care workforce is shrinking.
He has served on a Massachusetts Health Quality Partners Advisory Group on the future of primary care and nationally, is a member of the Primary Care Centers Round Table, representing HMS and the Division of General Medicine. In Massachusetts and nationally, he is an advocate for improved access to primary care, and primary care innovation supported by increased payments to primary care in the context of a hybrid payment system that includes both global payments and fee-for-service payments for primary care. Current grants include an AHRQ grant that is supporting an analysis of the impact of state-mandated investments in primary care on primary care spending and quality of care. He has just completed a grant awarded by the California Health Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund to collect primary and secondary data to assist organizations in their investment decisions as they consider investing in advanced services within primary care.
In Phillips' prior work at BIDMC, which included serving as Chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care for a decade, he led a task force to improve transitions in care, a working group to develop new sustainable practice models for primary care, and a task force to develop strategies for care management for high-risk patients. At the state level, he served on the Massachusetts Coordinating Council on the Patient-Centered Medical Home. As Division Chief, Phillips championed innovations to improve the quality of life for patients with chronic illness through palliative care services in primary care and wellness programs for patients with chronic illness, creating training programs in leadership and innovation for primary care physicians, increasing the time spent in primary care practice for primary care residents, engaging residents in projects on primary care innovation, and creating strong sections within the Division that focused on primary care, hospital medicine, research, education, and palliative care. He also worked to connect those sections by engaging hospitalists in a post-discharge clinic in our primary care practice, offering palliative care services in primary care, and working to implement residents’ promising innovation projects within our primary care practice.
A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University School of Medicine, Phillips has held leadership roles in the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and the Association of Chiefs and Leaders in General Medicine (ACLGIM), serving as Chairperson of the SGIM Research Committee, as President of ACLGIM, and on the leadership council of SGIM.
With more than 355 publications and an H-index of 124 (meaning that 124 of his publications have more than 124 citations), his publications have resulted in more than 51,000 citations in the published literature. Phillips' research has spanned disparities in care, screening for infection in office practice, patient safety, end-of-life care, interventions to improve care for patients with chronic disease, and innovations in primary care. He is the recipient of the two prestigious awards for mentorship at HMS; the Barger Award and the William Silen Lifetime Achievement in Mentoring Award. He led the Harvard General Medicine Fellowship Program for nearly 15 years and was Founding Director of the Harvard Research Fellowship Program in Integrative Medical Therapies which he led for 12 years. He held a Mid-Career Mentorship Award (K24) from the NIH to support his mentoring activities. Phillips has mentored more than 50 trainees, most of whom have gone on to successful careers as investigators and leaders in general medicine and in family medicine. His research has received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Hartford Foundation, the Macy Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the California Health Care Foundation.
In his recent role as HMS Center for Primary Care Director, he authored more than 50 research studies, reviews, perspectives, and chapters with a focus on the use of learning collaboratives to transform primary care, the value of primary care, and the impact of changes in primary care practice and payment on the finances of primary care practice. For his work leading primary care at HMS, he was recognized by the Barbara McNeil Faculty Award for Exceptional Service to Harvard Medical School. Although the Center is now closed, its legacy includes continuing programs that include opportunities for HMS students to participate in a primary care and leadership track at HMS, opportunities for HMS students to participate in service learning and research in community based organizations, entrepreneur training programs, research on primary care payment reform, and continuing efforts to innovate in primary care both nationally and globally.