The Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society (TASCS) has announced the launching of the Online Data Portal, a new system which will allow ambulatory surgery centers in the state to collect both quality benchmarking data and data required for the state's annual report in an online forum.
The Online Data Portal was developed and is managed by Surgical Notes, a nationwide provider of medical transcription, coding, electronic medical records and other value-added IT services for ASCs.
"It falls in line with the national benchmarking initiatives so we ask all of the same pertinent questions as the national [association's survey] does," says Jeff Blankinship, CEO of Surgical Notes. "When [surgery centers] participate in this TASCS quality benchmark [survey] … they can actually submit the form for the state at the same time."
Texas requires ASCs to submit annual reports to the Texas Dept. of State Health Services, and prior to this system, submission was entirely manual, he says. "It's the only automated state reporting mechanism for Texas," Mr. Blankinship says.
TASCS Executive Director Bobby Hillert views the system as an opportunity to demonstrate the significant value surgery centers provide to the state and its residents. "The Online Data Portal will play an important role in our efforts to tell our story to policymakers about the high quality surgeries and procedures that Texas ASCs are delivering to patients," Mr. Hillert said in a TASCS news release.
Another benefit of the "Quality Benchmarking Program" found within the Online Data Portal is users are able to compare their data with other facilities by zip code, region and county. A second development phase will expand to include comparison by specialty. This is expected to roll out in the third quarter of 2011.
Mr. Blankinship anticipates about half of all ASCs in Texas will use the Online Data Portal by the end of the year.
He credits 2011 TASCS President Jill Sluder for helping to ensure a successful launch.
"Jill played a large part of initiating this project and is instrumental in overseeing its success," he says.
Learn more about the Online Data Portal at www.tascs.org.
Learn more about Surgical Notes.
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