MHQP Pays Tribute to Bill Rogers, Statistician Extraordinaire
(October 2021)
We are deeply saddened to report that MHQP lost an important partner and friend last week. William Rogers, PhD, known to us as Bill, passed away unexpectedly on September 26 from a heart attack. Our sincere condolences go out to Bill’s family and everyone else whose life he touched.
You can read Bill’s obituary HERE.
Bill had worked with MHQP as a statistical consultant since 2006. Leveraging his 40 years as a renowned health services research statistician, Bill was the steady statistician’s hand behind much of MHQP’s core work during those 15 years. In particular, he was instrumental in developing and implementing quality measures for MHQP’s patient experience survey and clinical quality programs. We will miss him dearly.
Reflections from MHQP staff members who worked with Bill:
“Bill was a close partner of MHQP on our patient experience survey work for over 20 years. His contributions to the success of MHQP and to our ability to improve patient experiences of care in Massachusetts cannot be overstated. Bill was not only extraordinarily bright and the best-in-class at what he did, but he was also a kind and generous person. We sorely miss him already.”
– Barbra Rabson, President and CEO
“Bill was unfailingly kind to everyone. He generously shared his expertise with everyone on the team. For those of us without a PhD in statistics, he was patient and encouraging when leading us through complex analytic processes and results.”
– Jim Courtemanche, Vice President of Programs and Analytics
“Bill never ceased to amaze me with his breadth and depth of knowledge for all things survey and statistical. His memos outlining the pros and cons of using this or that statistical methodology or discussing options to assess data reliability were works of art. His recall was incredible too. From memory he’d pull up information from studies that were done years ago, complete with key findings and author names, and his information was always spot on. I’ve never worked with anyone quite like Bill and I suspect I never will again.”
– Nathalie McIntosh, Senior Director of Programs and Research:
“I can’t express in words how wonderful Bill was to me and what a pleasure it was to work with him. He was so encouraging of our ideas and always explained the complexities involved in simple terms. Recently, when we were discussing complicated changes for the 2021 patient experience survey, he was very supportive and said, ‘Don’t worry Raji, I have your back. We’ll get through this together.’ I can’t forget his friendly smile every time he visited MHQP. It’s a big loss for our team.”
– Raji Rajan, Senior Programming Manager
“Bill was a very special person. Besides being a brilliant statistician and researcher, he was a clear communicator and a kind man. While he wasn’t always easy to find, I do remember spending hours on the phone with him as he answered all my questions and we batted new ideas back and forth. Knowing he was still actively engaged in healthcare research gave me a comfort. His contributions will be sorely missed.”
– Janice Singer, former Vice President of Programs