ACS Enters into Epic Agreement

Advancing a clinical data strategy that will help transform its Quality Programs, the ACS has entered into an agreement with Epic Systems Corporation, a software company that provides software systems for electronic health records (EHRs) and other healthcare applications. 

This agreement will lead to accelerated development of innovative solutions and tools such as using artificial intelligence to simplify data collection processes and enhance how data are used to accelerate quality improvement.

Manually entering patient data is time-consuming and error prone. With automated entry, surgeons will have access to near real-time outcomes information on their patients that they can compare to national benchmarks, researchers will have more complete and current information to study, and hospitals will become more operationally and financially efficient.

“We are committed to providing our members and Quality Program participants with modern, interoperable registry systems that will lead to safer and more effective patient care,” said Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, Senior Vice President of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care. “The ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) was transformative when it was introduced 20 years ago. I’m confident that, with these new solutions, that the next generation of ACS Quality Programs similarly will transform our care for surgical patients.” 

Pilots are expected to begin within the next year for NSQIP, Pediatric NSQIP, and the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program. 

This most-recent evolution of the clinical data strategy is a multiyear initiative that is expected to include several technology collaborators and help mitigate concerns that data abstractors have expressed.

If you have questions, would like to receive updates about the project, and/or want to participate in the pilot, contact our Clinical Data Strategy team.

Read the press release.