ASCQC Encourages ASCs To Participate In Reporting, In Order To Keep Delivering Quality Care To Patients

TASCS spoke with ASC Quality Collaboration Executive Director Kathy Wilson about the organization’s mission, regular activities, and new tool, which will offer info on the quality and patient safety at different ambulatory surgery centers. 

The ASC Quality Collaboration (ASCQC) is dedicated to advancing high-quality, patient-centered care in ambulatory surgery centers. This is a collaborative effort between the ASC industry, professional associations, ASC management companies, and health IT companies. 

To help promote this mission, we talked with the organization's new executive director, Kathy Wilson, RN, who previously served as the vice president of quality at Amsurg and the assistant vice president of clinical services at HCA.

As many know, ASCQC developed standardized quality measures for ASCs, such as those regarding patient falls, appropriate surgical site hair removal, emergency department visits after being discharged, and the wrong site, side, patient, procedure, or implant. There is also an implementation guide, which helps ASCs implement and collect data. The quarterly benchmarking platform and data represent over 1,700 ASCs and over 8 million annual admissions, and this all helps with the overall goals of measuring development, reporting data, advocating for the industry, and advancing ASC quality.

Primary activities include maintaining this quarterly data, providing quality tools/resources pertinent to ASC measures, working with measure developers to ensure applicability to the ASC setting, providing input regarding the ASC Quality Reporting Program, and communicating on future measures.

ASCQC is also developing a tool that will be completed via a questionnaire and will provide key information about an individual center’s quality and patient safety. 

“We feel there is currently a need for information that payors, employers, patients, and other stakeholders can easily access, and this will help to inform all of those groups about how ASCs ensure high-quality care,” said Wilson. “In addition, we want to provide resources which are related to the areas being assessed so that participating ASCs can continually strive for improvement. Our focus is always on patient care, and that is where we need to keep it.”

Wilson continued by sharing what ASCs can do, in regards to individual reporting and the overall industry goal of delivering high-quality, cost-effective care. This is a booming industry, and as more procedures take place, more data will be needed that shows details on services and quality. Therefore, ASCs should be willing to collect, report on, and share data, in order to help patients select the best facility.  

“Transparency is becoming more important, and ASCs must be able to answer for their outcomes,” finished Wilson. “It is essential that ASCs work diligently to identify areas in which they can improve and undertake strategies to act on their findings. We owe that to our patients.” 

Stay tuned for more from ASCQC, as Wilson will be joining TASCS for a virtual town hall on November 3!