ArborMetrix Inc, a leading provider of a cloud-based healthcare analytics platform, announced that the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) will use its SurgicalMetrix solution to manage performance in its surgical service lines, improving the quality of care and patient outcomes.

Fifty surgeons will take part in the first phase of the programme, drawn from three surgical divisions at the Medical Center: General Surgery, Surgical Oncology and Endocrine, and Trauma and Surgical Critical Care.

The clinical measures of quality and efficiency will be risk-adjusted using advanced, specialty-specific statistical models that build on the deep expertise of ArborMetrix’s physician founders in clinical performance measurement.

SurgicalMetrix will incorporate data from Vanderbilt’s cost accounting system, hospital and professional billing systems, and the surgical management system in order to provide clinical, financial and operational performance information to the Medical Center. It will also integrate data from clinical outcomes registries, the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program and the American Hernia Society Quality Collaborative.

The clinical breadth and depth of the ArborMetrix analytics platform reflects the company’s prior success in supporting numerous regional and national quality improvement collaboratives, as well as cost management initiatives at Accountable Care Organisations and performance improvement initiatives at academic health systems. By adopting the robust ArborMetrix platform, the Vanderbilt surgical programme will be able to benchmark and identify best practices and share that information with surgeons and physician executives to improve operations and outcomes.

"As the healthcare industry continues its march to a value-based care model focused on patient outcomes, it is crucial that we are able to understand and reduce the variation in the quality and cost of care delivery,” said R. Daniel Beauchamp, MD, F.A.C.S., the Surgeon-in-Chief at Vanderbilt University. “We hope to measure both the financial and clinical impacts of surgeons’ performance. This will help us to quantify the value of our operational improvements and new investments, all with the goal of improving the quality of care we provide for our patients at a lower cost.”

Vanderbilt will engage physicians through clinically relevant, statistically credible, actionable information drawn from outcomes registries and other sources. Surgeon performance will be measured against benchmarks using clinically validated performance measures with advanced risk adjustment methodologies.

“We expect to gain new insights into the drivers of excellent and efficient care. This will help us improve patient safety, reduce costs and, most importantly, achieve better outcomes.” said Benjamin K. Poulose, MD, M.P.H., F.A.C.S. the Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of General Surgery at Vanderbilt.

Designed for acute and specialty care, SurgicalMetrix provides information that can benefit physician executives, practice managers, surgeons and specialists alike. It measures all dimensions of performance, identifies top performers and highlights opportunities for improvement by measuring quality, efficiency, productivity and financial metrics.

“As one of the most highly regarded academic medical centers in the United States, Vanderbilt is building on the foundation set by organizations such as the University of Michigan and the American Hernia Society in using performance measurement analytics to help improve the safety and quality of care for patients,” said Brett Furst, chief executive officer, of ArborMetrix. “We are excited to see the use of SurgicalMetrix expand across the country so quickly, and look forward to helping Vanderbilt University Medical Center, its surgeons and patients benefit from the tremendous power of the data shared through our analytics.”