The Leapfrog Group is expanding its reach beyond the inpatient setting and launching a survey to collect ASC safety data.
Here's what you should know:
1. The nonprofit organization plans to collect data on ASC facility information, medical and nursing staff, procedure volume and outcomes, patient safety practices and patient experience through a voluntary survey.
2. Leapfrog will include up to 250 ASCs in the first year of the survey. Leapfrog will then refine questions and measure specifications based on input from a panel of physician and nurse experts before opening the survey to the nation's more than 5,000 ASCs in 2020.
3. Leapfrog is also adding a section for hospital outpatient surgery departments to its Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which collects safety and quality data to grade nearly 2,000 hospitals.
4. Leapfrog will publish a national report on the results of both outpatient datasets by fall 2019. It will publicly report data on individual centers and departments for the 2020 surveys.
5. ASCs or ASC networks interested in participating in the pilot survey can visit Leapfrog's online support center. ASC leaders and administrators can also register for an in-person training and orientation event Leapfrog is hosting Nov. 6 in Chicago.
6. ASCs and HOPDs that take part in the survey will receive benchmarking reports to use with purchasers and payers.
"The vast majority of surgeries in the U.S. are being performed in outpatient or ambulatory settings, but there's almost no independent data about the safety and quality of this care," said The Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder in a statement. "This leaves patients at risk without the information they need to select the best place for their care."