Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative Launches Initiative to Identify Potential Outcomes Disparities Across Underserved Populations


Identifying and addressing healthcare disparities across communities are critical to enhancing patient care. Seeking to better understand potential outcomes disparities related to treatment of underserved patients with hernia and abdominal wall disease, through a license with the bipartisan public policy organization Economic Innovation Group (EIG), the Abdominal Core Quality Collaborative recently integrated the Distressed Communities Index (DCI) with its robust real world ACHQC Registry.

The DCI provides a detailed view of prosperity across the USA at the zip code level. The Index is utilized by leading publications, state and local governments, healthcare and non-profits organizations.

“Merging our rich ACHQC clinical data set with the Distressed Communities Index will allow us to perform in-depth outcomes analyses based on many metrics sensitive to socioeconomic status and health care availability,” shared Benjamin Poulose, MD, ACHQC Director of Quality and Outcomes. “Identifying potential outcomes disparities across underserved populations is critical to our mission of enhancing patient care.“

Founded in 2013, the ACHQC is a non-profit collaborative focused on maximizing quality and value of care delivered to patients with hernias and other abdominal core diseases. The ACHQC has developed and manages a robust real world data registry for capturing clinically relevant information pertaining to abdominal core surgeries. Currently the ACHQC registry includes data on over 84,000 patients collected by over 470 surgeons across the country. Through continuous quality improvement and rigorous data analyses, the Collaborate leverages real world experiences across interrelated stakeholders to improve the continuum of patient care.

“With the addition of the DCI data, we can now identify gaps and understand where there may be opportunities for improvement in how we provide care at the community level,” shared Michael Rosen, ACHQC Medical Director. “This enhanced analytic granularity will deliver further value to all our stakeholders – patients, surgeons, hospitals, and industry partners.”

For more information about the ACHQC Foundation visit http://www.achqc.org.

Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative programs are supported by Foundation Partners Medtronic, Allergan Aesthetics, BD-Bard, Ethicon, Inc., TELABio, and W.L. Gore.

About the ACHQC: Through continuous quality improvement, real world data collection, rigorous analysis and collaborative learning, the ACHQC identifies areas where abdominal core health may be enhanced and shares this information in meaningful ways that have direct impact on patient care. The ACHQC is a CMS Qualified Clinical Data Registry and is an authoritative resource for organizations to assess quality metrics and demonstrate a commitment to efficient, value-based patient centered care. Participation in the ACHQC is free to surgeons and fulfills Part 4 of the American Board of Surgery Maintenance of Certification Program.

About EIG: Economic Innovation Group (http://www.eig.org) is a bipartisan public policy organization that combines innovative research and data-driven advocacy to address America’s most pressing economic challenges.

About DCI: The Distressed Communities Index (DCI) sorts U.S. zip codes based on seven complementary economic indicators into five even quintiles of well-being: prosperous, comfortable, mid-tier, at risk, and distressed. For more information visit https://eig.org/dci/report.

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