Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has significant health and cost implications. The Virginia Cardiac Services Quality Initiative (VCSQI), a non-profit consortium of cardiac surgical and interventional cardiology practices, is dedicated to improving cardiovascular care through process improvements and replication of best practices. Using the ARMUS by Health Catalyst™ for Societies suite has enabled VCSQI to turn participant data into a high-quality data asset to support improvement efforts. By leveraging data-driven insights, fostering research collaboration, and building strategic partnerships, VCSQI aims to continue leading the way in transforming cardiovascular care.
In the U.S., CVD remains the leading cause of death, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer and accidental deaths.1 The financial burden of CVD is substantial, with the U.S. spending more than $100B on heart disease treatment.2 Quality challenges including complications such as infections, stroke, prolonged ventilation, and unnecessary blood product transfusions can increase costs and negatively impact patients’ quality of life. VCSQI is transforming cardiac care through collaboration, data-driven insights, and process improvements.
VCSQI recognized that to improve cardiovascular care quality, patient experience, and value, it needed timely access to actionable data and analytics. Without data and analytics, the organization would be unable to identify opportunities for improvement, compare participant performance to benchmarks and peers, or assess the impact of practice changes on patient outcomes. VCSQI also needed a partner that could adapt to changing business needs over time.
VCSQI selected the ARMUS by Health Catalyst™ for Societies suite, enabling it to turn participant data into a high-quality data asset to support improvement efforts. Initially implemented to support the cardiac surgery collaborative, VCSQI expanded over 20+ years, using ARMUS to integrate data from numerous national registries, including surgical, catheter, and valve registries.
Using ARMUS, VCSQI has a broad clinical data repository. The organization integrates governmental payer data into ARMUS and utilizes a validated algorithm to convert charges into estimated costs, thereby linking financial, claims, and clinical data to accurately estimate care costs.
VCSQI uses the ARMUS by Health Catalyst™ HYBRID Analytics application for real-time, self-service longitudinal reporting, generating insights that consortium participants use to drive clinical outcomes improvements. VCSQI can easily visualize high-profile society metrics, patient detail reports, benchmark reports, and side-by-side comparison reporting across participants for hundreds of standard measures. The organization can analyze its data to identify opportunities for clinical and cost improvement across a wide spectrum and evaluate the impact of these changes on patient outcomes and financial performance.
In addition to on-demand reports, VCSQI distributes quarterly performance reports and engages participants to prioritize improvement efforts and implement evidence-based practice changes. For example, program participants prioritized implementing restrictive blood transfusion processes, proactive identification and remediation of risks for complications, processes to prevent surgical site infections and to optimize early recovery after surgery, strategies to reduce nephrotoxic medication use and improve kidney function, and activities to improve atrial fibrillation management.
VCSQI’s data-driven insights and improvement efforts are transforming cardiovascular care. Results include:
“ARMUS allows us to show what’s possible when you combine clinical expertise with robust data analytics. We’re not just improving outcomes in Virginia—we’re setting a model for cardiovascular care nationwide.”
- Eddie Fonner, BA, Executive Director, Chief of Data Science, Virginia Cardiac Services Quality Initiative
Through data-driven insights, research collaboration, and strategic partnerships, VCSQI will continue to lead in cardiovascular care transformation, enhancing data utilization for better decision-making, ensuring improved patient outcomes, optimized healthcare delivery, and long-term sustainability in the field of cardiac medicine.
