The ACS is transforming the ways we collect and use surgical quality data.
ACS data registries contain more than 50 million patient records and receive more than a million new records each year. As financial and staffing pressures increase nationwide, we are prioritizing enhanced engagement with 2,000+ hospitals that participate in ACS Quality Programs by reducing data input time, improving usability, and automating data analysis with artificial intelligence (AI). Together, these changes will help ensure the benefits of our Quality Programs are easier for all hospitals, surgeons, and patients to access.
Our Goals
This multiyear modernization program is multifaceted. All elements focus on empowering hospitals and surgeons to use data insights more effectively to improve the quality of patient care.
- Simplifying data collection: Improved data collection with integrated AI will reduce data entry time and increase data completeness.
- Improving insights: Our new data platform will enable real-time analysis and integrated decision support at the point of care.
- Adding tools: Many existing offerings will migrate to the new data platform, and we will expand dashboards, analytical tools, and calculators.
- Incremental change: The project will incorporate modular improvements to minimize disruptions to those who rely on our registries.
- Enhancing access: ACS Quality Programs will ultimately be accessible to hospitals of all sizes, so a broad cross section of surgeons and patients can benefit from new data insights.
- Strengthening data governance: Our rigorous commitment to quality will incorporate stakeholder feedback, including existing hospital participants, new hospital systems, and surgeons.
- Ensuring future growth: Accessibility and interoperability across electronic health records platforms facilitate more substantive impact.
Next Steps
A core component of our success will be to develop a new data platform, which will be integrated with Epic and ultimately other EHRs, for use across ACS Quality Programs. We are in the initial stage of its creation, mandating that it have increased flexibility, better modularity, and AI integration.
In mid-2026, we will engage a small number of hospital participants in the Adult National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), NSQIP Pediatric, and the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgical Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) as voluntary early adopters of this new platform.
By summer, these participants will have the first opportunity to access the new data platform early and explore its features for subsequent stages of development.
Our early adopter program will expand to include additional hospitals through 2026 and 2027. Updates, including instructional content, will become available as we reach those stages of the project.
Always Learning
The ACS is committed to modernizing our own data registries and helping surgeons from all career stages, practice types, and surgical disciplines to better understand AI, healthcare data, and quality. In other words, we aim to keep up with the pace of global change to ensure we help surgeons deliver the most modern care to our surgical patients.
Our offerings include an online course on the basics of quality improvement and two annual conferences focused on quality improvement: the Quality, Safety & Cancer Conference (QSCC; July 30–August 2 in Orlando, Florida) and Trauma Quality Improvement Program Annual Conference (TQIP; November 13–15 in Anaheim, California). Both conferences are deeply connected to our data registries and include sessions focused on improving clinical data use. Registration for these meetings will open later this year.
In addition, you may wish to access the recorded panel sessions on AI and data advancements from Clinical Congress 2025 (see sidebar). Several were among the most popular sessions at Clinical Congress this past year. They are available via the Clinical Congress virtual platform at facs.org/clincon2025 to all registrants until February 23.
Finally, our website now features facs.org/datastrategy, a destination for further information on our clinical data strategy. Please stop there for regular updates.
Become an Early Adopter
Hospitals already participating in NSQIP, NSQIP Pediatric, or MBSAQIP are welcome to apply to become early adopters of the new data platform. Those interested in participating in or learning more about upcoming pilots can volunteer or sign up for updates at facs.org/datastrategy. Please direct any inquiries about program participation to clinicaldata@facs.org.
Leadership & Advocacy Summit
The ACS continues to advocate strongly for surgeons and surgical patients. Join us in the fight at the 2026 Leadership & Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC, this February 28 to March 2. In addition to 2 days of lectures and panels by prominent surgeons and Congressional leaders, we will visit Capitol Hill to share our insights with lawmakers. Register today at facs.org/summit.
Dr. Patricia Turner is the Executive Director & CEO of the American College of Surgeons. Contact her at executivedirector@facs.org.
