Measuring and tracking patient care processes and outcomes is essential for determining a surgery center's quality performance and identifying areas for improvement. Scott Trimas, MD, FACS, a facial plastic surgeon and otolaryngologist in Florida who serves as a surveyor for the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care and a consultant for its subsidiary, Healthcare Consultants International, shares five quick tips for benchmarking quality data in ambulatory surgery centers.
1. Establish systems for tracking data. "The most important quality and patient safety metrics include establishing appropriate monitoring systems for tracking data in an organized and standardized fashion," Dr. Trimas says. "These should have some clinical relevance and look at outcomes, adverse incidents and other results of care, and address infections, risk issues, etc."
2. Track benchmarking data in a standardized timeframe. Dr. Trimas says benchmarking data should be tracked quarterly, semiannually or annually at a minimum, depending on the size of the organization.
3. Delegate benchmarking responsibility to a quality improvement committee. A QI committee typically leads benchmarking efforts, according to Dr. Trimas. The committee can use the benchmarked data to adapt quality and safety initiatives and measure their effectiveness.
4. Benchmark on local, state and national levels. ASCs can find benchmarking data from many sources, including peer-reviewed journals, Gallup for patient satisfaction and the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement. Dr. Trimas says ASCs can also "compare with other surgery centers or facilities in the network where data in the aggregate can be used to compare to [their] center."
5. Use data to drive quality improvement. Dr. Trimas says a new requirement of AAAHC will be that at least one of a center's quality improvement studies be based on the results of benchmarking data. Benchmarking can thus help drive overall quality and patient safety at a facility.
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1. Establish systems for tracking data. "The most important quality and patient safety metrics include establishing appropriate monitoring systems for tracking data in an organized and standardized fashion," Dr. Trimas says. "These should have some clinical relevance and look at outcomes, adverse incidents and other results of care, and address infections, risk issues, etc."
2. Track benchmarking data in a standardized timeframe. Dr. Trimas says benchmarking data should be tracked quarterly, semiannually or annually at a minimum, depending on the size of the organization.
3. Delegate benchmarking responsibility to a quality improvement committee. A QI committee typically leads benchmarking efforts, according to Dr. Trimas. The committee can use the benchmarked data to adapt quality and safety initiatives and measure their effectiveness.
4. Benchmark on local, state and national levels. ASCs can find benchmarking data from many sources, including peer-reviewed journals, Gallup for patient satisfaction and the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement. Dr. Trimas says ASCs can also "compare with other surgery centers or facilities in the network where data in the aggregate can be used to compare to [their] center."
5. Use data to drive quality improvement. Dr. Trimas says a new requirement of AAAHC will be that at least one of a center's quality improvement studies be based on the results of benchmarking data. Benchmarking can thus help drive overall quality and patient safety at a facility.
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