August 16, 2010

We are pleased and proud to announce that ABC is one of the first companies to meet the criteria for designation as an Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) Preferred Vendor.  As stated on the AQI web site, www.aqihq.org,

An 'AQI Preferred Vendor' is a healthcare information technology company with a product that is actively meeting AQI requirements for data transfer. These criteria, which are expected to change on an annual basis, include the depth of data submitted (meeting the 2010 AQI Minimal Data Set standards at the least), the breadth of data (all cases performed), the formatting (in accordance with the AQI-defined schema), and the timeliness (at least quarterly).

What are the data that ABC reports, on behalf of our clients, to the AQI-National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR)?  What, again, are the AQI and NACOR? 

AQI is the separate 501(c)(3) organization launched last year by the American Society of Anesthesiologists to develop NACOR, a clinical data registry that will ideally have information on every anesthesia procedure performed in the U.S.  The data collected from practices and hospitals will encompass group and facility size and other demographics, patient and procedure data and outcomes such as complications, recovery time and patient satisfaction.  The starting set of AQI recommended indicators is as follows:

Business Indicators

Cases done

• By surgical service
• By anesthesia type
• By ASA class
• By location

Number of providers

• By type (Physician, Resident, CRNA, AA, etc.)
• By subspecialty training or group

Total minutes billed

• By surgical service

Top ten cases done, and average duration

Process Indicators

On-time starting percentage of first cases

• By service / facility

PQRI measure compliance

• Prophylactic antibiotic administration
• Adherence to central line bundle
• Normothermia in the PACU

Documentation compliance (% of cases with completed QM records)

• By location / service / provider

Number of patient complaints

Clinical Outcome Indicators

Patient satisfaction and patient complaints

• By Service/facility/patient type

Number of cases completed without any event

Number of each critical event occurring (by location/service):

The first anesthesia practices to begin submitting information to NACOR, including several ABC clients, are uploading data captured electronically from their anesthesia and/or billing records.  Anesthesiology departments participating in the Quantum Clinical Navigation System™, a quality management tool that provides real-time benchmarking of individual performance on more than 50 indicators also available through ABC, may send their data to NACOR through either Quantum or ABC,

The anticipated benefits of participating in NACOR include:

1. Personal benchmarking – over time, within group, within subspecialty, etc.
2. Quality reporting – PQRI measures and others
3. Hospital credentialing
4. Maintenance of licensure
5. Maintenance of certification
6. Clinical research

Registries such as the one that the AQI is developing have both a long history in medicine and an unbounded future.  Twenty-seven states plus the District of Columbia have enacted reporting systems to help physicians identify and learn from serious adverse events.  Sixteen of them significantly revised their reporting systems or registries between 2005 and 2007 alone, according to the National Quality Forum – of whose Quality Measurement & Improvement Council the AQI recently became a member. 

Among other recent activities, the AQI is in the process of obtaining official CMS registry status for NACOR so that anesthesiologists submitting quality data to NACOR will be able to use the registry method of reporting to the PQRI.

For further information on the AQI, see the feature articles in the May issue of the ASA Newsletter.  Note also the following lectures that will be given at the ASA Annual Meeting in San Diego in October:

• Saturday, October 16, 2010

Implications of Patient Outcomes Registries for the Practice of Anesthesiology
San Diego Convention Center, Upper 5B, 9:30 – 11:30 am

• Monday, October 18, 2010

Should My Group/Department Share Patient Data with National Data Repositories?
San Diego Convention Center, Mezzanine 16A, 3:00 – 4:30 pm

F1RSTAccess™ - Mobile Web App

We are also proud to announce our newest service offering, F1RSTAccess™.  F1RSTAccess™ is a mobile web application that will allow ABC clients to view reports directly on their Apple iPhone 3G/4G or iPad device... An extensive collection of live monthly reports and years of archived reports & trending information is currently available through F1RSTAccess™. Many more enhancements are in development, soon to be released. Clients can request the application through their account executive.
 

Important Survey on Value of Providing Critical Care Services – 10 Minutes, Please!

The ASA and the ASCCA (American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists) are conducting a survey to obtain information that will be helpful to the specialty in defining our role in the peri-operative setting, particularly as healthcare reform moves forward.  In a nutshell, they are trying to assess whether or not providing critical care services enhances a group's relationships with the facilities where they provide services.  They are also seeking to identify obstacles groups face in providing these services in order that they might try to help address them. 

Shena Scott, MBA, FACMPE, former president of the Anesthesia Administration Assembly, reported that it took her fewer than ten minutes to complete the survey in her message to the AAA encouraging participation. 

ABC urges readers to go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/asacriticalcare and respond to the ASA’s/ASCCA’s questions.  Thank you very much.

With best wishes,

Tony Mira
President and CEO