The South Carolina Surgical Quality Collaborative: A New Effort to Improve Surgical Outcomes in South Carolina

2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 916-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marka Lockett ◽  
Chris Turley ◽  
Lorri Gibbons ◽  
Shawn Stinson ◽  
James L. Adams ◽  
...  

Regional surgical quality Collaboratives are improving surgical quality and cutting costs by building regional relationships that leverage information sharing to improve outcomes. The South Carolina Surgical Quality Collaborative (SCSQC) is a new regional surgical quality Collaborative focused on improving general surgery outcomes in South Carolina. It is a joint effort which brings together the skills and resources of Health Sciences South Carolina, the South Carolina Hospital Association, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of SC Foundation to create a web-based data collection system to provide real-time outcomes data to participating surgeons, and establishing a supportive network for sharing best practices and promoting data driven quality improvement. Members of the SCSQC abstracted more than 8000 general surgery cases from eight participating hospitals in its first year. These facilities are spread across the state of South Carolina and range from large academic referral centers to small community hospitals. The resulting data should be representative of much of the surgical care provided in South Carolina. Monthly conference calls and quarterly face-to-face meetings occur with site Surgeon Leads, site Surgical Clinical Quality Reviewer, and Collaborative leaders. Each site is pursuing a quality improvement project addressing issues identified from analysis of their initial data. Early results on these efforts are encouraging. The SCSQC is a new regional surgical quality Collaborative, which leverages multiple state resources, builds on the successes of similar Collaboratives in Michigan and Tennessee, with the goal to improve the quality and value of general surgical care for South Carolinians.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. O. Birkmeyer ◽  
Mark A. Healy

Surgical morbidity and mortality are major public health concerns. The outcomes of surgery have been shown to differ among providers; this variability in the outcomes of surgical procedures has long suggested opportunities to improve the quality of surgical care. Payers, health care policy makers, and surgeons’ professional organizations have implemented a range of strategies to effect large-scale quality improvement efforts targeted toward patients undergoing surgery. This review examines outcomes measurement and feedback, regional collaborative quality improvement, selective referral, pay for performance strategies, and new strategies for surgical quality improvement. Figures show example of provider desktop user interface for a regional quality collaborative; mortality after (30-day) bariatric surgery: Michigan hospitals versus non-Michigan hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) based on data from the 2007 to 2009 Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative and national ACS-NSQIP registries; and percentage of mortality decline for esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, cystectomy, and lung resection attributable to increases in market concentration, based on 2001 to 2008 national Medicare data. Tables list characteristics of different strategies for improving surgical quality; components of the Institute for Healthcare improvement ventilator and central catheter insertion bundle checklists; evidence regarding the relationship between compliance with Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures and clinical outcomes; SCIP measures retired as of January 15, 2015; and SCIP measures remaining. This review contains 3 highly rendered figures, 5 tables and 74 references.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. O. Birkmeyer ◽  
Mark A. Healy

Surgical morbidity and mortality are major public health concerns. The outcomes of surgery have been shown to differ among providers; this variability in the outcomes of surgical procedures has long suggested opportunities to improve the quality of surgical care. Payers, health care policy makers, and surgeons’ professional organizations have implemented a range of strategies to effect large-scale quality improvement efforts targeted toward patients undergoing surgery. This review examines outcomes measurement and feedback, regional collaborative quality improvement, selective referral, pay for performance strategies, and new strategies for surgical quality improvement. Figures show example of provider desktop user interface for a regional quality collaborative; mortality after (30-day) bariatric surgery: Michigan hospitals versus non-Michigan hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) based on data from the 2007 to 2009 Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative and national ACS-NSQIP registries; and percentage of mortality decline for esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, cystectomy, and lung resection attributable to increases in market concentration, based on 2001 to 2008 national Medicare data. Tables list characteristics of different strategies for improving surgical quality; components of the Institute for Healthcare improvement ventilator and central catheter insertion bundle checklists; evidence regarding the relationship between compliance with Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures and clinical outcomes; SCIP measures retired as of January 15, 2015; and SCIP measures remaining. This review contains 3 highly rendered figures, 5 tables and 74 references.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy J. O. Birkmeyer ◽  
Mark A. Healy

Surgical morbidity and mortality are major public health concerns. The outcomes of surgery have been shown to differ among providers; this variability in the outcomes of surgical procedures has long suggested opportunities to improve the quality of surgical care. Payers, health care policy makers, and surgeons’ professional organizations have implemented a range of strategies to effect large-scale quality improvement efforts targeted toward patients undergoing surgery. This review examines outcomes measurement and feedback, regional collaborative quality improvement, selective referral, pay for performance strategies, and new strategies for surgical quality improvement. Figures show example of provider desktop user interface for a regional quality collaborative; mortality after (30-day) bariatric surgery: Michigan hospitals versus non-Michigan hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) based on data from the 2007 to 2009 Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative and national ACS-NSQIP registries; and percentage of mortality decline for esophagectomy, pancreatectomy, cystectomy, and lung resection attributable to increases in market concentration, based on 2001 to 2008 national Medicare data. Tables list characteristics of different strategies for improving surgical quality; components of the Institute for Healthcare improvement ventilator and central catheter insertion bundle checklists; evidence regarding the relationship between compliance with Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures and clinical outcomes; SCIP measures retired as of January 15, 2015; and SCIP measures remaining. This review contains 3 highly rendered figures, 5 tables and 74 references.


Author(s):  
Katie Kehoe ◽  
Sherry Shultz ◽  
Fran Fiocchi ◽  
Qiong Li ◽  
Thomas Shields ◽  
...  

Title: Quality Improvement in the Outpatient Setting: Observations from the PINNACLE Registry® 2009 Q4-2013 Q1 Authors: Katie Kehoe BSN, MS 1 ; Sherry Shultz RN, BSN, CIO 2 ; Fran Fiocchi MPH 1 ; Qiong Li PhD 1 ; Thomas Shields 1 ; Charlie Devlin MD FACC, FACP, FASNC 2 ; Nathan T Glusenkamp, MA 1 ; J. Brendan Mullen 1 ; Angelo Ponirakis, PhD 1 ; 1 American College of Cardiology, Washington, DC 2 South Carolina Heart Center, Columbia SC Background: The PINNACLE Registry® at the American College of Cardiology is the first outpatient practice-based quality improvement program in the United States. Begun as a pilot program in 2007, the registry systematically collects and reports on adherence to clinical guidelines in the care of patients with coronary artery disease, hypertension, atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Over time, these reports offer a unique opportunity for Quality Improvement (QI) in the outpatient setting. The current study aimed to assess the effect of QI in the outpatient setting using PINNACLE Registry data. Methods: The South Carolina Heart Center is a cardiovascular practice in Columbia, South Carolina. There are 19 providers, 5 office locations and NextGen EMR. The practice’s Quality Committee and Board meet monthly to review PINNACLE reports and identify areas for QI. This Clinical Quality Improvement Initiative began 10 years ago and consists of physicians, nurses, administrators, medical assistants, a medical record analyst and information systems staff. During this review, providers’ data was not blinded to others. QI Interventions implemented included physician and staff education, improving documentation during the office visit, addition of necessary fields to capture missing data and routine planned internal audits. Between October 1, 2009 and March 31, 2013 a total of 161,873 patient encounters were submitted to the registry. A two-tailed z test was performed to assess the significance in percentage changes between 2009 to 2013. Results: The following table showed significant percentage changes in six performance measures indicating interventions implemented by the practice demonstrate significant quality improvement over time from 2009-2013. Conclusions: Utilizing their PINNACLE Registry reports, the South Carolina Heart Center identified several areas for QI. Implementing multiple interventions, this practice was able to significantly improve their PINNACLE Reports and the quality of care provided.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 5-5
Author(s):  
Rebecca Rayner ◽  
Chit Hmu

Background/Aims Differential diagnosis of acute vertigo syndrome is challenging. In the acute medical setting, it is difficult to ascertain whether a person has definite peripheral vestibular pathology or a posterior circulation stroke. Mismanagement of these groups within our service is costly, with regards to correct medical input, MRI scan use and bed use within acute stroke services and the hospital setting. Research has demonstrated that the Head Impulse, Nystagmus, and Test of Skew (HINTS) test is efficacious, specific and sensitive in non-UK countries in determining if acute vertigo patients have dangerous (stroke) or benign (peripheral vestibular) pathology. It is not widely used in the UK. This may be due to well-known themes in implementation evidence such as cultural and clinician factors, as well as the lengthy time it takes to embed research into clinical settings. Methods We have started exploring, using Plan Do Study Act cycles, if the HINTS test can be successfully used in a large acute stroke service and the quality improvement effects this may have for patients (correct diagnosis, education/management and follow-up), financially to the Trust (efficient use of MRI scanning) and to the Stroke Pathway (effective bed use/acute medical management). Results Early results in round one of the quality improvement plan show that HINTS is a feasible bedside test to complete with 100% accuracy in the patients it was used on within the acute stroke pathway. This involved one stroke consultant and the patients' diagnosis with HINTS was assessed against routine follow-up MRI as appropriate. HINTS training has now been provided to all the stroke consultant and registrar team, A&E registrars and A&E advanced clinical practitioners, to senior physiotherapists in the acute stroke pathway and to the stroke alert nurses. Data gathering has commenced for round two, focusing further on bed use effects, as well as consideration of staff satisfaction with HINTS, and development of a recommended pathway for acute vertigo syndrome patients.


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