Better outcomes
Surgeons can follow their patients by collecting clinically relevant patient data across the phases of surgical care—preoperatively, intraoperatively, and postoperatively—including outcomes variables, and using the preoperative ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) Risk Assessment tool. Generating analytics reports allows surgeons to gain meaningful insights from their data to determine successful outcomes or identify interventions to improve outcomes. The SSR has formed a Planning Committee to develop a Practice Improvement Initiative (PII) providing various opportunities for surgeons to best review, reflect on, and learn from their surgical case data continually. As of 2021, the SSR has aligned all variables with ACS NSQIP, improved the preoperative data entry experience for users, and is looking forward to implementing report enhancements in 2021.
More than 3.1 million case records have been entered into the SSR system since its initial release on the new ACS quality data registry platform in 2017, and it now has an active user base of 6,900 surgeons. In the last year, participation has increased by 17 percent.
Many surgeons use delegate account access and the ability to upload many cases at once using Excel. The ACS SSR offers helpful educational resources in its library’s SSR Education Center to optimize the use of the registry with step-by-step guides and videos. In addition, several educational webinars taking place in 2021 are available for surgeons who want to make the most out of the SSR.
Learn about new features in the SSR and how to review, reflect on, and learn from your case data, whether you are a new or experienced user, by registering online.
Meet regulatory mandates
The SSR helps individual surgeons meet regulatory requirements. Surgeons can fulfill the Practice Improvement requirement of the American Board of Surgery (ABS) Continuous Certification Program, which requires ongoing participation in a local, regional, or national outcomes registry or quality assessment program. The ABS also requires that surgeons submit a 12-month operative log at least every 10 years, which also can be accomplished using electronic transfer from the SSR. A goal of the SSR, aligned with the ABS Continuous Certification Program, is to promote ongoing practice performance assessment to improve the quality of patient care.
Start participating today
SSR participation is offered free of charge to all ACS members. Surgeons who are not members of the College pay an annual subscription fee. Visit facs.org/join to become an ACS member today. SSR account creation is quick and easy—visit the SSR website to get started.
The ACS SSR will continuously improve the functionality of the SSR system, as well as address enhancement opportunities while communicating programmatic updates and providing education and training on how to use the system. For more information or if you need additional SSR data reports for your hospital, credentialing office, and so on, contact the SSR at ssr@facs.org or at (312) 202-5408 for assistance.
