Commit to improving the quality of patient care. through the STS National Database.

Transcription

1 Commit to improving the quality of patient care through the STS National Database.

2 The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The Database has since grown exponentially, both in terms of participation and stature, and has become the gold standard for clinical registries. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons believes that physicians are in the best position to measure clinical performance accurately and objectively. That s why the Society invites you to participate in the STS National Database.

3 Benefits of Participation: Helps improve patient outcomes; Identifies initiatives and new areas for quality improvement; Documents the quality of care delivered by your practice; Enables risk modeling of major procedures; Offers access to data for assessment of new technology and techniques; Provides the option to publicly report your CABG and AVR composite star ratings; and Meets the ABTS Maintenance of Certification Part IV Evaluation of Performance in Practice. The STS National Database has three components, each focusing on a different area of cardiothoracic surgery Adult Cardiac Surgery, Congenital Heart Surgery, and General Thoracic Surgery and all of which offer international participation.

4 Adult Cardiac Surgery Database The STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database is world s premier clinical registry for adult cardiac surgery. Launched in 1989, the Database contains more than 5 million cardiac surgery procedure records and currently has more than 3,000 participating surgeons. Participation offers: A standardized format for data collection to assess the care of adult patients undergoing cardiac procedures; Quarterly performance outcomes reports in a risk-adjusted format that allows comparison of local outcomes to regional benchmarks and national standards; An optional anesthesiology component, which enhances data collection and quality assessment for improving the operative care of patients undergoing cardiac surgery; An optional Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Module, which is used to collect and benchmark data for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation; Analysis of major outcomes and process-of-care measures that impact adult cardiac surgery patients; Composite measure scores for isolated CABG surgery and isolated AVR additional composite measures to be released periodically; and Risk profiles of patients benchmarked against national standards. About 95% of U.S. programs that perform adult cardiac surgery participate in the ACSD, so we have a rich opportunity to use that data and learn improvement techniques. Richard L. Prager, MD; Ann Arbor, MI Annual fees are listed at

5 The STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database is the largest database in North America dealing with congenital cardiac malformations. Launched in 2002, the Database contains more than 275,000 congenital heart surgery procedure records and currently has more than 650 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists. Participation offers: Congenital Heart Surgery Database A standardized format for data collection to assess the care of patients undergoing congenital cardiothoracic procedures; Semi-annual performance outcomes reports in a format that allows comparison of local outcomes against national standards; An optional anesthesiology component, which enhances data collection and quality assessment for improving the care of patients undergoing cardiothoracic procedures and surgery; Analysis of major outcomes and process-of-care measures that impact congenital heart surgery patients; and Complexity scoring to evaluate the clinical characteristics of your practice. With an 86.4% penetrance, the CHSD allows any program to benchmark their individual institutional outcomes to national aggregate data and therefore facilitates quality improvement. Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD; St. Petersburg, FL Annual fees are listed at

6 General Thoracic Surgery Database The STS General Thoracic Surgery Database is the largest clinical thoracic surgical database in the United States. Launched in 2002, this Database contains more than 345,000 general thoracic surgery procedure records and currently has more than 800 participating surgeons. Participation offers: A standardized format for examining the care of patients undergoing major general thoracic operations; An optional minimum dataset for minor procedure tracking; Semi-annual performance outcomes reports in a risk-adjusted format that allows comparison of local outcomes against regional benchmarks and national standards; Composite measures for general thoracic surgery procedures to be released in the near future; and Risk profiles of patients benchmarked against national standards. Participation in the GTSD allows us to compare how we re doing with our colleagues, and, since nobody s perfect, we can always find something to improve for example,too much blood usage or air leaks that are too long in duration. Mark S. Allen, MD; Rochester, MN Annual fees are listed at

7 How to Participate 1. Complete an STS Participant Contact Form The Contact Form provides STS with basic demographic information for all individuals who will be involved in the Database and can be found at 2. Complete the Participation Agreement and Business Associate Contract and Data Use Agreement Once STS receives the Contact Form, the Participation Agreement and Business Associate Contract and Data Use Agreement will be sent to the contact provided. 3. Purchase STS CERTIFIED SOFTWARE or STS HARVEST COMPLIANT SOFTWARE Each potential STS National Database participant will need to purchase commercial software in order to submit surgical procedures to the STS data warehouse and analysis center, Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI). For a full list of vendors, visit 4. Submit Data during Harvest Submission Each of the three STS National Databases has its respective timeline for data harvests, which can be found at More Information To learn more about participation, visit or contact Gerry Tarafa, Operations Manager, STS National Database, at gtarafa@sts.org or (312) STS Membership To take advantage of lower participation fees as an STS member, you must apply for membership at or contact Sarah Foreman, Member Services Coordinator, at sforeman@sts.org or (312)

8 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons 633 N. Saint Clair Street, Floor 23 Chicago, IL Participate in the STS National Database and commit to improving the quality of patient care. To learn how to participate, visit or contact Gerry Tarafa, Operations Manager, STS National Database, at or (312)