Gastroenterology Performance Standards
"Colonoscopy is a technically difficult procedure that carries recognized risks. The accuracy of the exam and patient safety is maximized when the procedure is performed by physicians that are well-trained, experienced, and working in an endoscopy unit that meets accepted credentialing criteria."(1) The Center for Gastroenterology (CFG) strives to document standards of excellence in performance of colonoscopy and upper endoscopy as we practice at Harmony Surgery Center, LLC (HSC).
In their report entitled: "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century," the Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined six general standards of excellence. HSC and CFG will strive to meet these general principles of excellence in our quality assurance program. According to IOM, these six general performance standards are needed to provide the highest health outcomes at a cost that is acceptable to payers. Please find below an example of two of our primary indicators and the results for colonoscopies as compared to Institute for Quality Improvement (IQI) Performance Measure Study (2) benchmarks:
The colonoscopy exam should be completed to the end of the cecum without the need for additional testing (barium enema, etc.) - CFG's current 2007 benchmark at HSC is 98.8% as evidence by an image of the cecum.
Procedure time (procedure start time to end of procedure) - CFG's current 2007 benchmark is 18.3 minutes minutes with the IQI performance study benchmark at a mean of 17.0 minutes.
References:
Minnesota Gastroenterology Colonoscopy Quality Assurance Initiative, John I. Allen, MD, MBA, FACG, 2004
Performance Measure Study - Colonoscopy 2003, AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement
