| Q: |
Whom will we be “benchmarked” against? |
| A: |
With SOIX, all benchmarking is reported “by
procedure,” so knee arthroscopies
are compared to knee arthroscopies, cataracts
to cataracts, and so on. Currently, the
SOIX database represents over 100 ASC’s
in 37 states
across the United States. |
| Q: |
How many ASCs
are members of SOIX? |
| A: |
Membership tends to average
between 60 and 70 centers at any one
time. |
| Q: |
Are most of your
members specialty centers? |
| A: |
No, most of our members
are multispecialty centers, with about
30% being specialty centers. We are also
seeing more surgical hospitals (either
as new members, or
transitioning centers). |
| Q: |
What are the
most common procedures reported? |
| A: |
The top five specialties
include orthopaedics (arthroscopies),
ophthalmology (cataract removal), ENT
(tubes, T&A), GI (endoscopy), and
Pain Management. |
| Q: |
How much does
membership cost? |
| A: |
Cost varies depending
upon the volume of procedures performed
at the center. In addition, corporately
owned ASC’s receive a “group” rate
if they subscribe to a Corporate or Sustaining
membership. The price for SOIX membership
is all inclusive and covers all training
and technical support of the system,
consultative resources for performance
improvement, upgrades, monthly reports
of your cumulative, quarterly and monthly
results, and a “network” of
ASC’s as a resource for best practices. |
| Q: |
How will I get
reports of my outcomes? |
| A: |
Reports are generated
monthly and accessible to the individual
member through the SOIX web site. Each
member is assigned a username and password
that allows their access to their data
anytime and anywhere Internet is available. |
| Q: |
What indicators
do you use? |
| A: |
SOIX uses 10 quality indicators
encompassing complication rates, returns
to surgery, hospital admissions, pain
management, patient satisfaction and
patient teaching. The quality indicators
are based on a study undertaken by the
Illinois
Hospital & HealthSystems Association and have been adapted and enhanced to
serve the ambulatory surgery setting. |
| Q: |
Will this meet
JCAHO and/or AAAHC standards for benchmarking? |
| A: |
Yes. SOIX is one of the
few benchmarking systems designed specifically
for
ASCs that is included on JCAHO’s list of “acceptable” performance
measurement systems. Members that are surveyed by JCAHO and AAAHC have received
NO recommendations for “benchmarking.” |
| Q: |
What is included
in my membership? |
| A: |
All training and technical
support of the system, consultative resources
for performance improvement, upgrades,
monthly reports of your cumulative, quarterly
and monthly outcome measurement results,
Cost benchmarks, graphic displays of
your data, benchmarks with over 100 ASC’s
across the US, and a “network” of
ASC’s as a resource for best practices. |
| Q: |
Are there any
deadlines for data submission to SOIX? |
| A: |
There are no deadlines for data submission, however, the reports are generated
around the middle of each month. Many members like to have their data submitted
prior to time that reports are generated, while others routinely work one to
two months behind. When reports are generated, all data submitted during the
previous six months are included. |
| Q: |
Is OMS HIPAA compliant? |
| A: |
All data submitted to SOIX through the Outcomes Monitoring System is devoid of
any patient identifiers. All “identifying” information is maintained
at the center. If needed, SOIX can provide members with a Business Agreement
for meeting HIPAA regulations. |
| Q: |
Can SOIX help
us identify “best practices?” |
| A: |
YES! With SOIX, you belong to a “network” of ASCs who are committed
to measuring their outcomes and benchmarking them selves with others. Members
often call SOIX for “referrals,” and SOIX can query the database
to find the center with the “best” score for a particular area. |
| Q: |
How can I use
the Outcomes Monitoring System for
more than just benchmarking? |
| A: |
Many of our members use the Outcomes Monitoring System as either the backbone
of their quality assessment and improvement program, or as an augment to an already
existing and strong performance measurement program. Those centers who take the
fullest advantage of the system have learned how to extend the information received
through the system by looking beyond the reports and graphics prepared by SOIX.
They use the SOIX reports to help them identify specific cases that need review,
then pulling those medical records and looking for more details about how they
might improve. Many use all of the optional fields on the Medical Record Abstract,
as well as creating their own fields by using the Institution Specific Variables.
However you decide to use any computer system, remember, the system should work
for you. For more ideas about how OMS may best work for you, please contact us
at SURGICAL OUTCOMES. |
| Q: |
When are reports
generated? Do you send notices to the
centers when reports are available
on the Internet? |
| A: |
SOIX begins a report generation on the 15th. of every month. Once the reports
have been checked, an email is sent to all members advising them that the reports
for the preceding month are available for their review. If you are not getting
these notices, it could be because we do not have an email address for you. PLEASE
LET SOIX KNOW OF THE EMAIL ADDRESS FOR YOU OR YOUR CENTER so that we can assure
proper notification and communication. |
| Q: |
Do I need to have
the Outcomes Monitoring System installed
on my computer in order to access the
feedback reports? |
| A: |
The SURGICAL OUTCOMES feedback and benchmarking reports are retrieved from the
Internet (www.soix.com), and may be viewed from any computer with Internet access.
You do not need to have the Outcomes Monitoring program installed in order to
retrieve your reports. The Outcomes Monitoring program itself provides a means
of collecting and entering your outcomes data, and submitting that data to SOIX.
It is necessary, however, to have Internet access on the computer in which you
install the Outcomes Monitoring System, as we do use the Internet connection
to enable transmission of raw data from the surgery center to SURGICAL OUTCOMES. |
| Q: |
How do I show
cases in which the patient could not
be reached for post discharge interview? |
| A: |
Few centers are able to reach 100% of patients for post discharge telephone interview.
In these cases, the interview form should NOT be initiated. That is to say, you
should not click the “continue to patient interview” button after
completing the Medical Record Abstract. When you click “continue
to” buttons, the system initiates a record for that section of data collection.
If that record is then left blank, the system defaults all of the blanks to “no” which
can create “false-negative findings, particularly on the post discharge
telephone interview. It is perfectly acceptable to have, for example, 10 medical
record abstracts and only 5 interviews. When your data is reported back, you
will see how many “records” you submitted and how many “interviews.” This
will allow you to compare your rate of interview to that for all centers. |
| Q: |
Do I have to submit
the Cost Survey data over the Internet? |
| A: |
No, you can print the Cost Survey form from the SOIX web site at www.soix.com
(click “members”, click “cost benchmarks”) and complete
the paper form which can be mailed or faxed to SOIX. NOTE, you must register
at the Cost Benchmarks page before you can view and print the survey form. A
list of definitions is also available from the SOIX General Information page.
If all else fails, call us toll free at 877-602-0156 and we will mail or fax
the forms and definitions to you. |
| Q: |
We have been monitoring
cataract removals for about a year
now. Is it okay to start monitoring
a different procedure? |
| A: |
Yes, as long as you are satisfied with the performance in cataract removals.
You are free to monitor any procedure on our list at any time, and we encourage
you to submit as much data as possible. However, each center must carefully weigh
the amount of monitoring needed at their facility. Its easy to get lost in the
forest while looking for the trees, so we usually suggest that centers start
with one or two procedures until they are comfortable with the reporting system.
Even if you stop monitoring cataracts regularly, you may still want to monitor
them periodically (once a year for example), just to make sure the performance
remains satisfactory. |
