North American Partners in Anesthesia’s Frank Overdyk Discusses Evidence-based Initiatives for Improving Clinical Outcomes in Anesthesiology News
Establishment of Clinical Registries for Anesthesiology Management a Key Goal
North American Partners in Anesthesia’s (NAPA) Frank Overdyk, MSEE, M.D. Executive Director for Research, recently discussed the importance of a clinical outcomes registry and NAPA’s efforts surrounding research and quality improvement in the May 2013 issue of Anesthesiology News. As third-party payers demand increasingly detailed performance and outcomes data from health care providers across all specialties, including anesthesiology, Dr. Overdyk is among the leading researchers who are looking to refine the methods used to collect this information. Connected to this process improvement is overcoming the hurdles historically associated with voluntarily reported data, such as the underreporting of adverse events and poor record-keeping.
In the article, Overdyk notes, “The recent emphasis on cost and quality of care as the foundation of value-based purchasing has awakened the interest in large, well validated clinical registries as a vehicle for establishing ‘best practice’. Since voluntary registries are prone to under-reporting, we are enhancing the rigor and value of our registry by supplanting traditional validation strategies such as manual chart review with electronic data capture, interfacing electronically to other hospital databases, and comparing and contributing our data to other anesthesia centric registries, such as those from the Anesthesia Business Group (ABG) and Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI). We are confident our registry will help provide insight on risk covariates and registry -based strategies for reducing complications and adverse events in the peri-operative period, specifically for patients at low pre-existing risk, since these events are often preventable and will not be reimbursed under ‘pay for performance’.
Since 2007, NAPA has amassed case data in a quality registry, requiring their clinicians to complete a process improvement “bubble sheet” as they manage cases. The form includes patient demographics, anesthesia technique, efficiency metrics, and SCIP data in addition to adverse events and complications occurring within the first 48 hours after the anesthetic encounter. This data is the substrate for NAPA’s CORe strategy (Clinical Outcome Registry) that measures, analyzes and optimizes clinical pathways from the daily submissions of over 1000 anesthesia providers, thereby improving patient care and practitioner performance.
NAPA presented initial findings from an analysis of adverse and unanticipated events in 256,506 cases collected as part of the NAPA CORe in scientific poster form during the 2012 PostGraduate Assembly (PGA) in Anesthesiology in December 2012, in which they detailed the incidence and implications of rare but serious complications such as aspiration and reintubation.
To learn more on NAPA’s initial findings and evidence-based initiatives, read the article featured in Anesthesiology News by clicking here.
Media Contact:
Jill Aaronson, Marketing Coordinator
North American Partners in Anesthesia
t: (516) 945-3030
jaaronson@NAPAanesthesia.com
About Frank Overdyk, MSEE, M.D.
Frank Overdyk, MSEE, M.D., is executive director for research at North American Partners in Anesthesia. Dr. Overdyk received his BSEng in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency and fellowship in cardiac and vascular anesthesiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Prior to joining NAPA, Dr. Overdyk served as Executive Medical Director at General Electric Healthcare and spent 16 years as a Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina. In addition, he continues to focus his efforts on extramural research and grants involving patient safety.
About North American Partners in Anesthesia
Founded in 1986, North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA) is the leading single specialty anesthesia management company in the United States. NAPA is comprised of the most respected clinical staff, providing thousands of patients with superior and attentive care. The company is known for partnering with hospitals and other health care facilities across the nation to provide anesthesia services and perioperative leadership that maximize operating room performance, enhance revenue, and demonstrate consistent patient and surgeon satisfaction ratings. For more information, please visit www.NAPAanesthesia.com.
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