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The ACC teamed up with the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) on Dec. 3 to host a briefing on Capitol Hill titled "Improving Quality and Outcomes — the Promise of New Clinical Data Registries." The briefing highlighted how registries are at the forefront of quality care and are well positioned to define meaningful quality measures for physicians as well as benchmark physician performance.

With the evolution of health information technology, a new kind of clinical data registry is emerging that extracts data directly from an electronic health record for analysis and faster feedback to physicians on quality initiatives. Registries are also exploring new and better ways to track clinical outcomes longitudinally, such as interfacing with claims databases and using probabilistic matching. Because clinical data registries collect data elements specific to a physician’s patient population, they improve electronic documentation, promote meaningful data exchange, and produce meaningful and actionable measures of patient care.

During the briefing, representatives from the ACC, AAO and ASCO highlighted innovations in the development of new clinical data registries and how these registries will lead to quality and outcome improvements. They also addressed the history of registries and weighed in on what Congress can do to foster the growth and development of new clinical data registries.

Ralph Brindis, MD, MPH, MACC, past president of the ACC, testified during the briefing and emphasized that the value equation for cardiovascular procedures is the right procedure done in the right way with the right outcome in a timely fashion. "We can only manage what we measure," Brindis stressed.

Keywords: Physicians, Electronic Health Records, Registries, Patient Care, Growth and Development, Documentation, Ophthalmology, Benchmarking, Medical Oncology, Medical Informatics, United States

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