Inova Joins Vascular Surgical Data Capture Systems (M2S and VQI)
Falls Church, VA – March 4, 2014 – Dr. David Spinosa, an Interventional Radiologist with Fairfax Radiologic Consultants, and Director of Inova’s Vascular Center of Excellence, announced today its new membership and affiliation with two interrelated new vascular surgical data systems: M2S Pathways and the Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI), sponsored by the Society of Vascular Surgery (SVS). Dr. Maseer A. Bade, MD, a Vascular Surgeon with Cardiac, Vascular & Thoracic Surgery Associates, P.C., has been appointed as the Director of the Inova M2S Vascular Quality Initiative.
The M2S Pathway is a clinical data capture and reporting performance platform that will allow the six-Inova facilities (Fairfax, Fair Oaks, Loudoun, Mt. Vernon, Alexandria, and the Gainesville Vein and Vascular Center) to track, measure, and analyze clinical information, promote collaboration, and objectively drive decision-making to optimize performance and maximize best practices.
Inova has reached a significant program milestone with their participation in the Vascular Quality Initiative® (VQI) of the Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS), a national registry and outcomes reporting system designed to improve vascular health care. Inova will be able to benchmarks its data with over 225-hospitals nationwide that report to the database. Additionally, Inova will be able to participate locally in the Virginia Vascular Study Group, comprised of over one dozen hospital systems representing thirty-six hospitals throughout Virginia and West Virginia. In conjunction with M2S, The Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) offers an opportunity for long-term data collection critical to meaningful outcomes assessment and also meets the American Board of Surgery’s Maintenance of Certification quality registry participation requirement for Inova vascular surgeons.
The VQI registry collects and analyzes data from individual providers, hospitals and regional quality improvement groups. VQI collects:
- pre-operative risk factors
- intra-procedural variables
- post-procedural outcomes
- one-year follow-up data
VQI uses the collected data to assess quality of care and determine best practices in vascular health care under the auspices of SVS Patient Safety Organizations (SVS PSO). The SVS PSO provides oversight of data sharing arrangements, key outcome and quality measure analyses, and dissemination of information to participating providers.
The VQI is a voluntary reporting program that tracks outcomes for eleven of the most common procedures performed by vascular specialists. Participating physicians and institutions can compare their outcomes with similar physicians throughout their region and nationally. The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), the pre-eminent professional society for vascular specialists in the United States, has created a patient safety organization (PSO) to oversee the management of the national database consistent with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Dr. Spinosa commented that: “This is the first dedicated peripheral vascular registry to start at Inova. The timing could not be better as cost and quality will be driving much of America’s health care reform and reimbursement.”
Dr. Bade, the Director of the Inova M2S Vascular Quality Initiative, commented that: “This is a major step forward and demonstrates our commitment to quality, reduced costs and optimal patient outcomes for our vascular patients. For the past several years, we tracked our own quality metrics and data informally. Participating in this national registry allows us to measure that we are providing the best, cost-effective care with each patient encounter. We can also track and compare our results locally, regionally and nationally so we can set our vascular care program apart from others. This registry will enable comparison of the performance of our vascular surgical outcomes with national norms. Our patients should expect that we are superb in our measured outcomes as we fulfill our commitment to provide an exceptional experience for every patient, every time.”
Dr. Spinosa noted that: “We are excited to be participating in this critically important program, which will define ‘real world’ outcomes for patients with peripheral vascular disease. Moreover, by analyzing trends in outcomes, the regional and national work groups can determine best practices and institute changes in practices much more quickly and cost effectively than waiting for this information to be disseminated by traditional means.”
Dr. Bade also noted that outcomes analyses from the Vascular Study Group of New England, the founding members of the VQI, have alre been applied to participating physicians’ practices and have been shown to improve outcomadyes and reduce healthcare expenditures by improving quality. According to Dr. Bade, “Rather than chasing after generalized benchmarks established by the government, participation in VQI will allow us to develop practical quality benchmarks that are directly applicable to our patient population and more accurately reflect the care being provided by vascular specialists in the U.S. In time, it is likely that Medicare and other third-party payers will consider participation in VQI as a mandatory requirement for vascular specialists to be included in their programs.”
For further information about M2S Pathways and the VQI Program, please contact Paul Gentile, Program Administrator, paul.gentile@inova.org, or at (571)423-5845.