Adherence to vascular care guidelines for emergency revascularization of chronic limb-threatening ischemia

In 2022, the National Health Service Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN) indicator for vascular surgery, with its pay-for-performance incentive for timely (5-day) revascularization of chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), was introduced. We sought to assess its effects in terms of (1) changes in the care pathway process measures relating to timing and patient outcomes; and (2) adherence to the Peripheral Arterial Disease Quality Improvement Framework (PAD-QIF) guidelines for patients admitted with CLTI.

A retrospective before-and-after cohort study was performed from January to June 2022 of nonelective admissions for CLTI who underwent revascularization (open, endovascular, or hybrid) at Cambridge University Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust, a regional vascular "hub." The diagnostic and treatment pathway timing-related process measures recommended in the PAD-QIF were compared between two 3-month cohorts-before vs after introduction of the CQUIN.

For the two cohorts (before vs after CQUIN), 17 of 223 and 17 of 219 total admissions met the inclusion criteria, respectively. After introduction of financial incentives, the percentage of patients meeting the 5-day targets for revascularization increased from 41.2% to 58.8% (P = .049). Improvements were also realized in the attainment of PAD-QIF targets for a referral-to-admission time of ≤2 days (from 82.4% to 88.8%; P = .525) and admission-to-specialist-review time of ≤14 hours (from 58.8% to 76.5%; P = .139). An increase also occurred in the percentage of patients receiving imaging studies within 2 days of referral (from 58.8% to 70.6%; P = .324). The reasons for delay included operating list pressures and unsuitability for intervention (eg, active COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] infection). No statistically significant changes to patient outcomes were observed between the two cohorts in terms of complications (pre-CQUIN, 23.5%; post-CQUIN, 41.2%; P = .086), length of stay (pre-QUIN, 12.0 ± 12.0 days; post-QUIN, 15.0 ± 21.0 days; P = .178), and in-hospital mortality (pre-QUIN, 0%; post-QUIN, 5.9%). Other PAD-QIF targets relating to delivery of care were poorly documented for both cohorts. These included documented staging of limb threat severity with the WIfI (wound, ischemia, foot infection) score (2.9% of patients; target >80%), documented shared decision-making (47.1%; target >80%), documented issuance of written information to patient (5.9%; target 100%), and geriatric assessment (6.3%; target >80%).

The pay-for-performance incentive CQUIN indicators appear to have raised the profile for the need for early revascularization to treat CLTI, engaging senior hospital management, and reducing the time to revascularization in our cohort. Further data collection is required to detect any resultant changes in patient outcomes. Documentation of guideline targets for delivery of care was often poor and should be improved.