Enhancing Healthcare with Clinical Registry Insights

THE CHALLENGE

MedStar Washington Hospital Center (MedStar Washington), a national leader in researching, diagnosing, and treating cardiovascular disease, continually works to improve performance. Its extensive data quality system is key to ongoing improvement.

THE SOLUTION

As part of its robust quality improvement, MedStar Washington uses the ARMUS by Health Catalyst™ for Hospitals suite to harvest and prepare data, validate data quality, and directly submit data to the STS National Database (STS).

MedStar Washington uses comparative reports, including the ratio of observed to expected (O/E) performance rates, to facilitate learning, accurately identify improvement opportunities, support clinical transformation, and monitor areas where the organization has sustained high performance. For example, MedStar Washington identified an opportunity to decrease prolonged ventilation time. Interdisciplinary teams implemented the latest evidence-based practices to reduce patients’ post-cardiovascular surgery ventilator time, safely extubating most patients in less than six hours after surgery.

THE RESULT

Using ARMUS, MedStar Washington easily submits data to STS and uses its data for continuous improvement. The cardiac surgery programs consistently earn the highest quality ratings from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, placing MedStar Washington among the top surgical heart programs nationwide.

• Three-star overall composite score from STS for coronary-artery bypass graft (CABG)—the highest possible score.
• Absence of operative mortality and major morbidity among patients undergoing CABG for more than three years.
• 86 percent of cardiovascular surgery programs have a prolonged ventilation rate with an O/E < 1.

“Quality data from ARMUS and our STS ratings are crucial because they serve
as benchmarks of excellence, driving continuous improvement.”

Leanne McKenna, BSN, RN, Clinical Quality & Data Registry Manager, MedStar Heart and Vascular Institute

ADDITIONAL READING

• Evidence-Based Quality Improvement: The Power of Registry Data to Optimize Birth Outcomes
• Electronic Data Abstraction Improves Efficiency and Registry Submission Accuracy
• Data-Informed Improvements Decrease Post-PCI Bleeding Events
• Driving Value: Boosting Clinical Registry Value Using ARMUS Solutions
• ARMUS by Health Catalyst