PSO Goal: All Centers Offer Statins at Discharge to Vascular Surgery Patients

Mar 29, 2017

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"1231","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 700px; height: 557px;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

SVS PSO AIMS FOR 100 PERCENT COMPLIANCE AMONG PARTICIPATING CENTERS

CHICAGO, [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1226","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"162","style":"width: 200px; height: 68px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;","typeof":"foaf:Image","width":"480"}}]]Illinois, March 31, 2017 -- All vascular patients should receive a prescription for statins and antiplatelets when discharged after surgery, according to the Society for Vascular Surgery Patient Safety Organization.

The organization has set a target of 100 percent compliance at its participating medical centers because, except when contraindicated, the medications offer patients much better health and survival rates.

This includes reduced rates of heart attack, stroke and death. Currently, not all U.S. patients leave the hospital with prescriptions. Among the 403 medical centers that participate, the average percentage of patients discharged with antiplatelet and statin medications ranges from 50 to over 90 percent.

The PSO, which collects data on vascular treatment outcomes, recently launched the statin initiative nationally to all its participating centers, but will provide special attention to hospitals where compliance levels are low.

“Setting a goal of 100 percent compliance is quite ambitious,” said PSO medical director Dr. Jens Jorgensen, “but it’s achievable. The PSO is supporting hospitals by providing more data, new tools, resources and mentoring from high performing centers. We’re already close to 100 percent in some centers. Our discharge medication goal of 100% compliance is our first nationwide effort, and we want to help all hospitals reach this goal.”

“This target is important, he added, “because ensuring that post-operative vascular patients start on statins/antiplatelets is not just a good idea, it demonstrably saves lives. It is a best practice and we are trying to make it everyone’s practice.”

The statin goal is one of two national initiatives the SVS PSO is launching; both aimed at improving patient care. The second initiative, slated for June, 2017, is to promote follow-up imaging for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) patients at one year after surgery.

## The Society for Vascular Surgery Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the SVS, and provides oversight of data-sharing arrangements, key outcome and quality measures and dissemination of information to participating providers. Collaborative organizations include the American Venous Forum and the Society for Vascular Medicine. In addition, the PSO has partnered with M2S to provide secure, cloud-based data management.

The Vascular Quality Initiative, a joint venture of the Society for Vascular Surgery and M2S Inc., collects and analyzes data to improve the quality of vascular care. Currently, VQI has 403 facilities, 3,000 participating physicians and more than 350,000 vascular procedures reported. The VQI includes 12 procedure-based registries and is a collaboration between 17 regional groups that use a Patient Safety Organization and the M2S PATHWAYS cloud-based system.

The Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS) is a 5,600-member, not-for-profit professional medical society, composed primarily of specialty-trained vascular surgeons, which seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research and public awareness. The Society is based in Chicago, Illinois.