|
The
American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) has developed
a multi-faceted strategy to improve cardiovascular care.
The
initial phase, begun over 20 years ago, was to create practice
guidelines to assist physicians in clinical decision making.
Through a combination of systematically reviewing the most
current scientific evidence, expert opinion and peer review,
the ACCF, and the American Heart Association have successfully
teamed to produce the premier guidelines on cardiovascular
care.
National
Cardiovascular Data Registry - NCDR™
In 1997, ACCF launched the ACC's National Cardiovascular Data
Registry (NCDR™). With a registry of over 1 million patients
and over 400 institutions, it has grown to become the preeminent
cardiovascular data repository for cardiac catheterization
laboratory measures of care. The number of cardiac catheterizations
performed annually is continually rising as the prevalence
of heart disease grows. By benchmarking institutional performance,
the NCDR helps clinicians and cath lab administrators understand,
measure, and improve the quality of their patient care. These
benchmarks are based on recommendations in the ACCF guidelines,
are linked to ACCF's performance measures, and use the standardized
data elements and data definitions found in ACCF's data standards
that are recognized as the national standard for cath lab
measurement.
Performance
Measures
In February, 2000, the third phase began when the ACCF
and the AHA collaborated in the development of performance
measures that would allow the quality of cardiovascular
care to be assessed and improved. These measures intended
to provide practitioners with 'tools' to measure the quality
of care and identify opportunities for improvement. The ACC/AHA
Task Force on Performance Measures is not only developing
its own measures on AMI and Heart Failure, but is also working
with other agencies to define measures for quality cardiac
care. Recently, ACC worked with the Physician Consortium for
Performance Improvement convened by the American Medical Association
(AMA), and the American Heart Association (AHA) to develop
cardiovascular performance measures to be used in the treatment
of coronary artery disease, heart failure, and hypertension
in an outpatient setting. These performance measures are constructed
for physicians and are not intended to characterize "good"
or "bad" practice, but to be part of a system with
which to assess and improve healthcare quality.
Data
Standards
In 2002, the ACCF began efforts to ensure that the cardiovascular
community speaks with one voice regarding cardiovascular quality
improvement. Clinical data standards identify key elements
and definitions for measuring the clinical management and
outcomes of patients. This resource provides links to current
scientific evidence and other national/regional registries.
Currently available is ACCF's Key
Elements and Definitions for Measuring the Clinical Management
and Outcomes of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes.
The Task Force on Clinical Data Standards is expected to release
Atrial Fibrillation Data Standards in the winter of 2003 and
a Heart Failure Data Standards document in early 2004.
|
