For two consecutive years, the Stony Brook Medicine Vascular Surgery program has earned the highest rating from the Society for Vascular Surgery for improved quality care through active participation in its Registry Participation Program, placing Stony Brook among the top 10-15 percent of vascular surgery centers in the United States and Canada. We are the first New York State hospital to participate in the initiative and one of only two centers in New York State to receive the award.
The mission of The Society for Vascular Surgery’s Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI) is to improve quality, safety, and effectiveness of vascular healthcare while lowering costs. VQI participating centers can earn from one to three stars based on actions that lead to better patient care; including maintaining long-term follow-up after vascular interventions, physician participation in semi-annual meetings of a regional quality group, and initiation of quality improvement activities based on VQI data.
The VQI Participation Award Program began in 2016 to encourage active participation in the registries. To be eligible for the award, centers must have been a SVS VQI member for at least 12 months. Stony Brook Medicine was the first New York State institution to participate in the Vascular Quality Initiative, which allows us to track and benchmark our performance in vascular surgery on a regional and national level. Out of the 383 vascular surgery centers eligible for the Participation Awards this year, SBUH was one of only two hospitals in New York to earn the three-star award. About 600 centers nationwide participate in the initiative.
The VQI's member centers, composed of multidisciplinary groups of physicians, data managers, and quality professionals, collect clinical data on their vascular patients and submit it to VQI's clinical registries. VQI’s 12 registries contain demographic, clinical, procedural and outcomes data from more than 500,000 vascular procedures performed nationwide and in Canada. Each record includes information from the patient’s initial hospitalization and at one-year follow-up. This 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.
The vascular care team at the Stony Brook Vascular Center uses VQI data to measure the effectiveness of our programs and to improve long-term patient care. Utilizing VQI annual reports, the team has designed in-hospital and outpatient processes to significantly decrease average length of hospital stay following aortic aneurysm and carotid artery interventions. The data is also used to enhance long-term vascular surveillance, by keeping a regular follow up schedule with patients after a vascular intervention, which is essential for not only verifying the effectiveness of the procedure but also for early recognition of recurrent symptoms or procedure related complications. These processes lead to better patient outcomes and improved the quality of care provided for vascular surgery patients.
This three-star level designation is an acknowledgment of our focus on continuous improvement to enhance patient care. Congratulations to Apostolos K. Tassiopoulos, MD, Chief, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Division, and Director of the Stony Brook Vascular Center, and the entire vascular surgery team!
Carol