"Impact of regional data reporting and feedback on rectal cancer surgery quality metrics in the Surgical Care...

Management of rectal cancer is increasingly complex. Leading societies describe metrics of high-quality perioperative rectal cancer care with the goal of reducing variation in practice and improving outcomes. This study was designed to describe the impact of targeted feedback at the institutional level on improving achievement of rectal cancer quality metrics.

Adult elective rectal cancer resections performed at institutions that continuously participated in SCOAP between 2011 and 2022 were included for analysis. Quality metrics evaluated were preoperative MRI (MRI), determination of tumor location (TL), use of neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NAC), performance of a total mesorectal excision (TME), 12+ lymph nodes resected (LN), and composite negative margins (NM). In-depth feedback on these metrics was provided by SCOAP at the end of 2015 and 2019. Achievement of the metrics was evaluated before (2011-2016), between (2017-2019), and after (2020-2022) feedback events to determine effect on achievement.

1962 resections were performed at 19 institutions. There were statistically significant increases in MRI(2011-2016 = 32 %, 2017-2019 = 88 %, 2020-2022 = 92 %;p < 0.01), TME(47 %, 68 %, 80 %;p < 0.01), and LN(76 %, 86 %, 86 %;p < 0.01) after one or both feedback events. TL(67 %, 69 %, 70 %;p = 0.558), NAC(62 %, 63 %, 67 %;p = 0.124), and NM(98 %, 97 %, 96 %;p = 0.39) were not significantly different. Mean composite score for metrics increased after each feedback (2011-2016 = 3.8±1.4; 2017-2019 = 4.3±1.4; 2020-2022 = 4.5±1.5;p < 0.01).

Interval, in-depth feedback on rectal cancer quality process metrics was associated with increased achievement of several metrics and overall number of metrics achieved. Broader implementation of this feedback method could further advance the quality of rectal cancer surgical care.