MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI) has awarded WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and United Hospital Center each three stars for its active participation in the Registry Participation Program.
The mission of the SVS VQI is to improve patient safety and the quality of vascular care delivery by providing web-based collection, aggregation and analysis of clinical data submitted in registry format for all patients undergoing specific vascular treatments. The VQI operates 14 vascular registries.
The participation awards program began in 2016 to encourage active participation in the registries program and recognize the importance of that participation.
Participating centers can earn up to three stars based on actions that lead to better patient care, including:
- The completeness of long-term, follow-up reporting, based on the percentage of patients for whom they have at least nine months of follow-up data
- Physician attendance at semi-annual meetings of a regional quality group
- Initiation of quality improvement activities based on VQI data
- The number of vascular registries in which the center participates
VQI’s registries contain demographic, clinical, procedural, and outcomes data from more than 811,000 vascular procedures performed in the U.S. and in Canada. Each record includes information from the patient’s initial hospitalization and at one-year follow-up.
The wealth of data allows centers and providers to compare their performance to regional and national benchmarks. All centers and providers receive biannual dashboards and regular performance reports, so they can use their data to support quality improvement initiatives.
“By participating in this program to the fullest extent, we are able to constantly re-evaluate our treatment of patients as compared to national outcomes,” Luke Marone, M.D., WVU Heart and Vascular Institute co-director, said. “We are also contributing to outcomes data that can be used by other institutions as a way to measure their own performance. This participation in the field is an essential way to move vascular care forward.”
Biannual regional meetings allow physicians of different specialties, nurses, data managers, quality officers and others to meet, share information and ideas, and learn from each other in a positive and supportive environment. Members have used VQI data to significantly improve the delivery of vascular care at local, regional, and national levels, reducing complications and expenses.
“Hard-working, dedicated organizations such as WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital and United Hospital Center are key to the success of the vascular registries,” said VQI Medical Director Dr. Jens Eldrup-Jorgensen. “The work we do to build and maintain the registries for researcher use is crucial to health and outcomes for vascular patients. Like the old saying says, ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.’”