Society for Vascular Surgery's Vascular Quality Initiative
Three Stars, Top Rating 2018 and 2019
The Society for Vascular Surgery's Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI) has just awarded Stony Brook Medicine three stars — the top rating — for its active participation in the Registry Participation Program. The SVS VQI registry provides real-time data and gives opportunities for vascular surgery-related quality improvement projects. The mission of the SVS VQI is to improve patient safety and the quality of vascular care delivery by providing web-based collection, aggregation and analysis of clinical data submitted in registry format for all patients undergoing specific vascular treatments. The VQI operates 12 vascular registries.
The participation awards program began in 2016 to encourage active participation in the registries program and recognize the importance of that participation. Participating centers can earn up to three stars based on actions that lead to better patient care, including:
-
The completeness of long-term, follow-up reporting, based on the percentage of patients for whom they have at least nine months of follow-up data.
-
Physician attendance at semi-annual meetings of a regional quality group.
-
Initiation of quality improvement activities based on VQI data.
-
The number of vascular registries in which the center participates.
VQI's registries contain demographic, clinical, procedural, and outcomes data from more than 500,000 vascular procedures performed in the U.S. and in Canada. Each record includes information from the patient's initial hospitalization and at one-year follow-up. The wealth of data allows centers and providers to compare their performance to regional and national benchmarks. All centers and providers receive biannual dashboards and regular performance reports, so they can use their data to support quality improvement initiatives.
Our vascular care team at the Stony Brook Vascular Center uses VQI data to measure the effectiveness of our programs and to improve our long-term patient care.
Apostolos K. Tassiopoulos, MD, chief of our Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Division, and director of the Stony Brook Vascular Center, says:
"Stony Brook Medicine was the first New York State institution to participate in the Vascular Quality Initiative. In the past decade we have successfully utilized VQI data to improve patient care in our hospital. This second year in a row 3-star level designation is an acknowledgment of our focus on continuous improvement in the care of our patients."