Denver, CO (PRWEB) August 19, 2016
Less than 3 years from inception, the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative Foundation is pleased to announce a significant milestone - the entry of its 10,000th ventral hernia patient into the Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative (AHSQC).
The AHSQC was founded by hernia surgeons in 2013 as a non-profit standard-setting partnership focused on using real-world data and continuous quality improvement to deliver the best possible results to each patient. Currently over 180 surgeons across the country utilize the AHSQC as a tool to measure their performance and enhance decision making capabilities to improve surgical care. “There is no doubt that scientific collaboration and sharing of best practices advances how we deliver care to our patients,” states William W. Hope, MD, current President of the Americas Hernia Society. “We encourage all our members to participate in the AHSQC.”
“The health care system is moving to a value-based performance approach. We recognized early on that it was imperative for surgeons to identify quality metrics to demonstrate enhanced value,” explained Michael Rosen, M.D., AHSQC Medical Director and co-founder of the AHSQC. “The AHSQC was designed to do just that – through collaborative efforts and tremendous progress over a short period of time, we can find answers to key questions surrounding optimal care of our hernia patients.”
“The AHSQC takes a holistic approach - analyzing and sharing information collected from pre-procedure through post-operative follow-up,” described Benjamin K. Poulose, M.D., MPH, AHSQC Director of Quality Outcomes and AHSQC co-founder. “With our growing body of data, we have already been able to identify and implement changes in our peri-operative protocols which have resulted in meaningful improvements in outcomes and reduction in cost of care.”
The merit of robust, real-world data continues to garner significant attention. Clinical registries are driving a new paradigm for the FDA for both post-market and premarket assessments, with the FDA Center for Devices and Radiologic Health including “Increased Access to Real World Evidence to Support Regulatory Decision Making” as a top 2016-2017 Strategic Priority and Goal. “Clinical registries provide useful real-world data to inform health care providers in their clinical practice and help augment the FDA’s understanding of the benefit-risk profile of medical devices,” states Binita Ashar, M.D., Director of the Division of Surgical Devices at the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. The AHSQC is honored to have representatives of the FDA sit as ex-officio members of the AHSQC Executive Council.
“The AHSQC encompasses much more than a data repository. We are a true Collaborative, working closely with a broad range of stakeholders - including surgeons, researchers, hospitals, industry and the FDA,” shared Dr. Rosen. “We are grateful for the support of all our participants and partners who share our commitment to improving patient care – in particular our 2016 Gold Foundation Partners: Acelity/LifeCell, Bard/Davol, Intuitive Surgical, and Medtronic.”
For more information about the AHSQC, visit http://www.ahsqc.org or contact Shelby(at)ahsqc(dot)org.
About the AHSQC: Through data collection, analysis and collaborative learning, the AHSQC provides best practices, decision support, care pathways and ongoing performance feedback to participants and partners. The AHSQC is a CMS Qualified Clinical Data Registry and is an authoritative resource for organizations to assess quality metrics and demonstrate a commitment to efficient, value-based patient centered hernia care.