Vascular Verification Program Names First Three Verified Outpatient Centers

January 25, 2024—The Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) announced that the first three outpatient centers have been verified as part of the recently launched Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP), initiated by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) with SVS.

In September 2023, ACS and SVS released the new standards for outpatient vascular centers to help them provide optimal care and treatment of patients receiving vascular surgical and procedural care in the Vascular-VP.

To become verified, centers must meet the standards outlined in the Optimal Resources for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Care—Outpatient Standards, which addresses elements of vascular surgical care and quality.

The newly verified outpatient centers are:

• Albany Medical Center Vascular Outpatient Lab in Albany, New York
• Total Vascular Care in Brooklyn, New York
• Michigan Vascular Center in Flint, Michigan

“Participating in Vascular-VP brought together a lot of our resources, including nursing, vascular lab, office-based lab, front desk, and others, to improve the care we are providing to the vascular patient,” commented Anil Hingorani, MD, a vascular surgeon with Total Vascular Care, in the SVS press release.

According to SVS, Vascular-VP is an ACS Quality Program developed with the SVS and leverages the strengths and expertise of the ACS and SVS to provide an evidence-driven, standardized pathway for instituting and growing a quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure within a center’s vascular program.

To receive verification, these centers have shown a commitment to deliver the best treatment for patients receiving vascular surgical and interventional care in an outpatient setting and continually improve outcomes.

“These three centers have, first as pilot sites and now as verified centers, established themselves as leaders in outpatient vascular care,” stated Clifford Y. Ko, MD, Director, ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, in the press release. “They have paved the way for many more centers to join us in their journey to continuous improvement by using data and ACS standards and resources to deliver the best possible patient care.”

ACS Executive Director & CEO Patricia L. Turner, MD, added, “We welcome these centers into the ACS Quality Programs They have shown their commitment to delivering the highest quality care, evaluating that care in a rigorous fashion, and dedicating themselves to continuous improvement.”

As explained in the SVS press release, the Vascular-VP offers two levels of participation for inpatient centers (comprehensive inpatient and verified inpatient) and one level for outpatient centers (verified outpatient). All types of verifications are built on a foundation of quality metrics in program, facility, and service resources, as well as data collection and quality improvement activities.

Verified Vascular-VP centers also become ACS Surgical Quality Partners, signifying their dedication to consistently improving procedures and approaches while maintaining a critical eye on the process at every step. The Surgical Quality Partner designation indicates to patients that a center is dedicated to quality and relentless self-improvement, has been verified or accredited by the ACS, and adheres to the most rigorous standards in surgical quality.

Vascular-VP was launched in March 2023. In June, the first four verified inpatient centers in the program were announced: Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York; Baylor Scott & White The Heart Hospital—Plano in Plano, Texas; Keck Hospital of USC at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California; and University of California San Francisco Medical Center in San Francisco, California.