Economic impact of the use of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) is a validated, risk-adjusted database for improving the quality and security of surgical care. ACS NSQIP can help participating hospitals target areas that need improvement. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature analyzing the economic impact of using NSQIP. This paper also provides an estimation of annual cost savings following the implementation of NSQIP and quality improvement (QI) activities in two hospitals in Quebec.

In June 2018, we searched in seven databases, including PubMed, Embase, and NHSEED for economic evaluations based on NSQIP data. Contextual NSQIP databases from two hospitals were collected and analyzed. A cost analysis was conducted from the hospital care perspective, comparing complication costs before and after 1 year of the implementation of NSQIP and QI activities. The number and the cost of complications are measured. Costs are presented in 2018 Canadian dollars.

Out of 1,612 studies, 11 were selected. The level of overall evidence was judged to be of moderate to high quality. In general, data showed that, following the implementation of NSQIP and QI activities, a significant decrease in complications and associated costs was observed, which improved with time. In the cost analysis of contextual data, the reduction in complication costs outweighed the cost of implementing NSQIP. However, this cost analysis did not take into account the costs of QI activities.

NSQIP improves complication rates and associated costs when QI activities are implemented.