Regional Quality Groups Enhance Effectiveness of Vascular Quality Initiative®

The Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI)® is a national collaborative of regional quality groups that collect and analyze data to improve vascular health care. The Southern California Vascular Outcomes Improvement Collaborative (So Cal VOICe) is the regional quality group for southern California. Initial quality initiatives chosen by the So Cal VOICe are preoperative and discharge antiplatelet and statin therapy and vascular access guidance during percutaneous endovascular procedures. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of the regional quality group structure on the effectiveness of the So Cal VOICe. Data are entered by each institution into a cloud-based data collection and reporting system. So Cal VOICe data from January 2011 to July 2014 was analyzed in 6-month intervals. Preoperative statin and antiplatelet use increased from 58.87 to 71.81 per cent (P = 0.0082) and 60.8 to 78.38 per cent (P < 0.0001), respectively. Discharge statin and antiplatelet use increased from 69.09 to 80.37 per cent (P = 0.0037) and 80.47 to 88.11 per cent (P = 0.0148), respectively. Vascular access guidance improved from 32.89 to 76.23 per cent (P < 0.0001). Our results demonstrate the unique regional quality group structure of the VQI® improves compliance with selected process measures in the So Cal VOICe. Continued data collection will determine the impact of these process improvements on long-term patient outcomes.