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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;131:4-8
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorial

Quality indicators, performance measures, and accountability: The right thing, at the right time, for the right reason

Jeffrey B. Rich, MD, FACS *

Sentara Cardiovascular Research Institute, Norfolk, Va.

* Address for reprints: Jeffrey B. Rich, MD, Mid-Atlantic Cardiothoracic Surgeons, Ltd, 400 W. Brambleton Ave, Suite 200, Norfolk, VA 23510. (Email: rich@macts.com).

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

GoThe article in this issue of the Journal by the Canadian CABG Surgery Quality Indicator Consensus Panel entitled "The identification and development of Canadian coronary artery bypass graft surgery quality indicators" 1 Go brings to the forefront an increasingly important issue for health care providers. As a financing crisis looms in the US health care system, both public and private purchasers are demanding more transparency and performance data related to services provided. This is grounded in the belief that improving quality will lead to cost savings, a point clearly made in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in March 2005. 2 Go The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director McClellan believes, as do others in the private sector, that payments for health care services should be adjusted according to quality. This has driven the need for the development of specialty-specific quality and performance measures to be used for both quality improvement and accountability. Recognizing this need, the STS, under the leadership of Dr Peter Pairolero in 2004 and Dr Sid Levitsky in 2005, have taken a leadership role in bringing the use of the STS National Cardiac Database (STS NCD) and the STS as a professional society to a position of national prominence. Through the National Quality Forum (NQF) Consensus Development Process, a set of 21 performance measures for cardiac surgery suitable for quality improvement and accountability have been established, with 16 of these measures specified and derived from the STS NCD. The complete description can be found in the NQF publication "National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Cardiac Surgery." 3 Go The Canadian group has followed suit with an independent project to mirror these efforts in the United States by the STS. A careful comparison of these projects and a discussion of the implications for US . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2006 131: 89-260.





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