Newswise — August 11, 2017 – The GI Quality Improvement Consortium, Inc. (GIQuIC) is in the process of moving to a new, more agile technical platform that will better support participants and their teams in their utilization of the GIQuIC registry for clinical benchmarking, quality improvement, and reporting to payers.

A target date of October 2, 2017, has been set to transition to this new platform, hosted by the registry vendor, FIGmd. FIGmd, an experienced industry leader in the development of clinical data registries, is the trusted partner of a number of specialty societies including organizations serving cardiology, ophthalmology, urology and neurology.

“With the exponential growth in cases reported through the GIQuIC registry, this move to a platform powered by FIGmd creates opportunities for new features and functionality, including an online calculator to estimate the financial impact that the Merit-based Incentive Payment System will have on a gastroenterologist’s reimbursement,” explained Glenn M. Eisen, MD, MPH, FASGE, President of the GIQuIC Board of Directors.

According to Sanket Baralay, CEO of FIGmd, “Those who use the GIQuIC registry will experience a seamless and easy transition as FIGmd aims to provide functional equivalence to the current platform. Our experience and technology will help GIQuIC achieve new milestones in meaningful performance measurement and quality improvement."

GIQuIC Transition to FIGmd: How & When
At this time, GIQuIC vendors and participants need to take no action in relation to this registry platform move. With the target of “functional equivalence” at the outset, the only notable change for users will be where to login to upload data and run reports once the registry has migrated. We anticipate that the registry will be fully migrated to FIGmd by October 2, 2017.

The GIQuIC 2017 QCDR and FIGmd MIPS Calculator
Among the many strengths and innovative approaches that FIGmd brings to GIQuIC will be an interactive calculator to help registry users navigate Medicare’s Merit‐based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) requirements. GIQuIC is an approved Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) for reporting to MIPS for the 2017 reporting year, allowing providers to report on measures that are meaningful to their specialty practice and foster improvement in the quality of care provided to patients, while being in compliance with reporting requirements. The GIQuIC QCDR can be utilized to report to the Quality, Advancing Care Information or Improvement Activities performance categories.

About FIGmd
FIGmd, Inc. provides clinical data registry, analytics, data reporting, and assessment solutions to medical practices, specialty societies, medical professional associations, hospitals, health systems, medical boards and others. FIGmd's technologies, solutions and customization capabilities allow organizations to massively scale their projects in a timely and cost-effective manner. For more information on FIGmd's solutions, visit www.figmd.com.

About GIQuIC
The GI Quality Improvement Consortium, Ltd. (GIQuIC) is an educational and scientific 501(c)(3) organization established by gastroenterologists, physicians specializing in digestive disorders. GIQuIC is a joint initiative of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). GIQuIC has developed and utilized various measurements of the endoscopic techniques of practicing gastroenterologists, a process referred to as benchmarking. These measures reflect the best science and evidence base for the performance of endoscopic procedures. This national benchmarking project began by measuring data related to common endoscopic procedures employed by gastroenterologists. Since 2010, GIQuIC has grown exponentially to include data on more than five million colonoscopies and more than 700,000 upper GI endoscopies. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive medical procedure that is used to assess the digestive system organs by inserting a tube orally into a patient's stomach or rectally into the patient’s colon. The physician founders of GIQuIC believe that the scientific measurement of the quality of endoscopic procedures will improve the quality of the medical care being given to patients throughout the United States and abroad, and ultimately will improve the quality of public health. www.giquic.gi.org.

About the American College of Gastroenterology
Founded in 1932, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is an organization with an international membership of more than 14,000 individuals from 85 countries. The College's vision is to be the pre‐eminent professional organization that champions the evolving needs of clinicians in the delivery of high‐quality, evidence‐based and compassionate health care to gastroenterology patients. The mission of the College is to advance world‐class care for patients with gastrointestinal disorders through excellence, innovation and advocacy in the areas of scientific investigation, education, prevention and treatment. www.gi.org. Follow ACG on Twitter @AmCollegeGastro

About the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Since its founding in 1941, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) has been dedicated to advancing patient care and digestive health by promoting excellence and innovation in gastrointestinal endoscopy. ASGE, with more than 15,000 members worldwide, promotes the highest standards for endoscopic training and practice, fosters endoscopic research, recognizes distinguished contributions to endoscopy, and is the foremost resource for endoscopic education. Visit www.asge.org and www.screen4coloncancer.org for more information and to find a qualified doctor in your area.