Quality Reporting in Neurological Surgery: Practice Adherence to Quality Payment Program Guidelines.

Area of Science:

• Neurosurgery
• Health Policy
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Recent legislation has introduced new quality reporting requirements for neurological surgery.
• The Quality Payment Program (QPP) mandates specific objectives and measures for healthcare providers.
• Understanding practice preparedness is crucial for compliance and successful adaptation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the Quality Payment Program's (QPP) quality reporting objectives and measures for neurosurgery.
• To assess the preparedness of neurosurgical practices for QPP compliance.
• To analyze the association between practice type and adherence to quality reporting measures.

Main Methods:

• A survey was distributed to 220 neurosurgical practices in February 2017.
• Data collected included practice type, number of providers, and adherence to QPP quality and advancing care measures.
• Statistical analyses included Wilcoxon rank-sum test and Fisher's exact test.

Main Results:

• Twenty-seven neurosurgical practices responded to the survey.
• Physician-owned practices reported performing a median of 5 quality measures, compared to 12 in academic and hospital-owned practices.
• 100% of academic and hospital-owned practices met a benchmark of at least 6 quality measures, versus 45% of physician-owned practices.

Conclusions:

• Practice type is significantly associated with the number of quality measures performed in neurosurgery.
• Physician-owned practices demonstrate a more modest rate of quality reporting compared to academic and hospital-owned practices.
• These findings may have implications for future reimbursement adjustments under the QPP for neurosurgical practices.