Newswise — CHICAGO (November 2, 2022): The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) has recognized 78 of an eligible 607 hospitals participating in the adult program for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2021. ACS NSQIP participating hospitals are required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures; these outcomes are then analyzed by ACS and reported back to hospitals. These results inform patient safety initiatives within the hospital and impact the quality of surgical care for all patients.
The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score in either an “All Cases” category or a category which includes only “High Risk” surgical cases. Each composite score was determined through a different weighted formula combining eight potential adverse outcomes. Outcomes in the following eight clinical areas were evaluated:
- Mortality
- Cardiac: cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction
- Pneumonia
- Unplanned Intubation
- Ventilator use for more than 48 hours
- Renal Failure
- Surgical Site Infection (SSI): superficial incisional SSI, deep incisional SSI, and organ/space SSI
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
Although only performance in calendar year 2021 was evaluated for the 2022 meritorious lists, a hospital must have submitted at least one case in each of the calendar years of 2019, 2020, and 2021 to be eligible for consideration on either list. Of the 685 NSQIP hospitals participating in 2021, 607 met the three-year criteria to be eligible for meritorious consideration.
“The hospitals on our meritorious lists are demonstrating a real commitment to using data to improve the surgical care they provide their patients. They deserve special recognition for their commitment to quality improvement,” said Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, FASCRS, Director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care. “ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. By examining its data related to other hospitals, a hospital can readily identify areas where they need to improve and put action plans in place to do it.”
Seventy-eight hospitals achieved the distinction based on an outstanding composite quality score, calculated from risk-adjusted data from the July 2022 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2021 calendar year. These scores were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes.
- Forty hospitals are recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” lists
- Twenty-one hospitals are on the “All Cases” list only
- Twenty-one hospitals are on the “High Risk” list only
The meritorious hospitals represent approximately ten percent of the 607 ACS NSQIP eligible hospitals.* These meritorious hospitals are eligible to display these achievements amongst their staff and within their institutions.
View a listing of the recognized hospitals.
ACS NSQIP measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery.
“Not only can ACS NSQIP help hospitals save lives by reducing surgical morbidity and mortality, it can also help hospitals improve their operations and reduce healthcare costs that can occur when adverse events happen,” Dr. Ko said. “There are currently more than 850 adult and pediatric hospitals participating in ACS NSQIP and we are proud to support them in their quality improvement journey.”
___________________
* Eighty-two hospitals achieved meritorious outcomes. However, four hospitals did not consent to their names being released, leaving 78 hospitals on the final list.
# # #
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 84,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
RSS