The American College of Surgeons and the Society for Vascular Surgery Launch National Quality Verification Program for Vascular Care

Key takeaways

·       The newly launched Vascular Verification Program provides participating hospitals with a way to establish and grow quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure for vascular surgery and interventional care.

·       Verified hospitals will have a framework for improving patient education, clinical care, and data collection, among other areas.

·       The verification program can be adapted to a variety of inpatient hospital settings.

CHICAGO: The American College of Surgeons (ACS), with the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), has launched a new national quality verification program to help participating hospitals improve outcomes and deliver the best treatment for patients receiving vascular surgical and interventional care in an inpatient setting.

The Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP), an ACS Quality Program developed with the Society for Vascular Surgery, leverages the strengths and expertise of the ACS and SVS to establish a program that provides an evidence-driven, standardized pathway for instituting and growing a quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure within a hospital’s vascular program.

“The ACS has the experience and infrastructure for developing surgical quality programs and the SVS has the experience and expertise about vascular surgery,” said Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH, FACS, DFSVS, MAMSE, ACS Regent, past president of the SVS, and the Lewis B. Saltz Chair, department of surgery, George Washington University, Washington, DC. “The ACS is what we call the ‘House of Surgery.’ It’s the umbrella organization for all surgical specialties, including vascular surgery. It was very logical for these two outstanding organizations to collaborate and come up with this comprehensive program.”

"Vascular-VP builds upon the ACS’s longstanding commitment to surgical quality. By utilizing the existing infrastructure of the College’s quality programs and working closely with the SVS to address vascular-specific provider and patient needs, we have built an important program that will help all participating hospitals improve the quality of care they provide,” said Patricia L. Turner, MD, MBA, FACS, ACS Executive Director & CEO.

A vascular-specific program

Vascular-VP was developed by experts who recognize the depth and breadth of scope in the areas of vascular care and treatment. Multiple levels of participation (Comprehensive and Verified) ensure the program can be established in a variety of inpatient hospital settings and encompasses all aspects of vascular care at an institution.

“This program is specific to our specialty. It’s not a one-size-fits-all project. It has been designed for vascular surgeons and interventionists to help us improve,” said Michael C. Dalsing, MD, FACS, DFSVS, SVS president, professor emeritus at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, and a vascular surgeon for IU Health Physicians.

Vascular-VP provides hospitals with a framework for patient education and informed consent and organizing principles for comprehensive services for patients in the hospital and beyond, including allied health and patient support services. By receiving care at hospitals specifically dedicated to providing high-quality vascular care, vascular patients will benefit from the resources and patient care experience across all phases of care at these hospitals.

Pilot site experience

Site visits were conducted in a number of different hospital types and settings during the initial development of Vascular-VP. Data play a key role in quality improvement, and Vascular-VP helped these sites abstract and analyze their data to help them with meaningful and measurable quality improvement activities.

“Being a pilot site was incredibly valuable. It allowed us to evaluate our system, see what we were doing well, and where we needed to improve,” said R. Clement Darling III, MD, FACS, DFSVS, chief of vascular surgery at Albany Medical Center, Albany, New York, and Chair of the inpatient subcommittee of the Vascular Standards Committee that helped develop Vascular-VP. “This program allowed us to demonstrate to the C-suite the value of vascular surgery.”

“This program can truly be transformative throughout the entire hospital. Vascular-VP helps strengthen a hospital’s safety and continuous improvement culture to enhance patient outcomes with greater reliability and standardization of care,” said Clifford Y. Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, FASCRS, Director, ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care.

Program standards

The Vascular-VP program standards manual is the fundamental basis for the program. The manual, the Optimal Resources for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Care (2023 Inpatient Standards), addresses elements of vascular surgical care and quality, including the following domains:

• Institutional commitment
• Program scope and governance
• Resources for facilities, equipment, services, and personnel
• Clinical care
• Data abstraction and analysis
• Quality improvement
• Education and research

Access the full Vascular-VP standards manual.

Hospitals interested in becoming a verified center and continuing the quality improvement journey of their vascular service are encouraged to apply online.

More information about Vascular-VP is available on the ACS website.

About the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 84,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

About the Society for Vascular Surgery

The Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS) seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research and public awareness. The organization was founded in 1946 and currently has a membership of more than 6,000. SVS membership is recognized in the vascular community as a mark of professional achievement.