One State Takes Steps to Improve Surgical Care

• 8/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• Category: Benchmark Blog
• 5308 Views
• 0 Comments
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Several Florida hospitals have helped launch an initiative to improve patient safety and the quality of surgical care while reducing costs throughout the state. The Florida Surgical Care Initiative (FSCI), a joint venture of the Florida Hospital Association, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and the ACS Florida chapter, is a statewide collaboration focusing on reducing surgical complications and improving the quality of care in participating hospitals.

To date, 71 hospitals have lined up to join the program. The goal is to recruit at least 100 hospitals to the program, which will officially launch in October.

A critical issue being addressed is regional variations in the quality and cost of care. The FSCI will focus on the following four key areas:
1. Surgical site infections
2. Urinary tract infections
3. Colorectal surgery outcomes
4. Elderly surgery outcomes

The initiative was developed based on the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), a program that uses risk-adjusted, 30-day clinical outcomes data to review and assess outcomes and complications related to surgical care. The use of ACS NSQIP has been shown to significantly reduce complications and deaths in participating hospitals and to help hospitals save money by preventing costly complications.

Do you believe other states should follow Florida’s lead and create initiatives like this one? Is this something in which you’d like your organization to participate? I’d love to hear your thoughts.