SVS Launches Vascular Quality Initiative

November 11, 2010—The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) announced a new quality initiative to improve the care of patients with vascular disease. The Vascular Quality Initiative includes a registry and regional study groups to analyze the data collected from the registry. The initiative expands the society's focus on clinical outcomes and benchmark reporting. SVS is partnering with M2S, Inc. (West Lebanon, NH) on this project, which was originally established by the Vascular Study Group of New England.

“The Vascular Quality Initiative enhances SVS's mission to assist its members in understanding and improving patient outcomes by encouraging the collection, aggregation, and analysis of clinical data,” commented Robert Zwolak, MD, president of SVS. “Through this partnership, SVS oversees the electronic registry and manages the Patient Safety Organization. This organization has oversight from a scientific advisory board comprised of SVS and regional group representatives, with Jack Conenwett, MD, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and former SVS president, serving as its medical director. M2S provides the Web-based registry platform for data collection and analysis.”


According to SVS, the partnership with M2S provides a platform for its members to analyze outcomes, reinforce best practices, and share quality improvement efforts across regions. Currently, the Vascular Quality Improvement Initiative includes 30 centers in 11 states and in Canada. In addition to the 20 institutions in the New England regional group, there are two new regional study groups in the Carolinas, led by Jeb Hallett, MD, and in Texas, led by Mark Davies, MD. Additional groups are forming in Florida, California, New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

M2S stated that the Vascular Quality Initiative, combined with standardized pre- and postoperative imaging, will significantly improve patient care. The Vascular Quality Improvement Initiative uses M2S's secure, Web-based system, Clinical Data Pathways, for data entry and report generation. Through Clinical Data Pathways, participants generate real-time benchmarked reports on seven vascular procedures for major outcomes and processes of care to allow for continuous assessment compared to a blinded group of peers based on key performance measures. More information is available online at www.m2s.com/vascularquality.