ACS NSQIP recognizes 88 participating hospitals for achieving meritorious surgical patient care outcomes

November 11, 2019 by matray

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) has recognized 88 of an eligible 592 hospitals participating in the adult program for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2018. ACS NSQIP participating hospitals are required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures; these outcomes are then analyzed by ACS and reported back to hospitals. These results direct patient safety initiatives within the hospital and impact the quality of surgical care.

  The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score in either an “All Cases” category or a category which includes only “High Risk” cases. Each composite score was determined through a different weighted formula combining eight outcomes. Outcomes in the following eight clinical areas were evaluated:

• Mortality


• Cardiac: cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction


• Pneumonia


• Unplanned Intubation


• Ventilator > 48 hours


• Renal Failure


• SSI: superficial incisional SSI, deep incisional SSI, and organ/space SSI


• UTI: urinary tract infection

  To be eligible for either list, the hospital must have submitted at least one case in each of the calendar years, 2016, 2017, and 2018, though only performance in calendar year 2018 was evaluated for the 2018 meritorious lists. Five hundred and ninety-two of the 722 NSQIP hospitals participating in 2018 met the 3-year criteria to be eligible for Meritorious consideration.

The 88 hospitals achieved the distinction based on an outstanding composite quality score. Risk-adjusted data from the July 2019 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2018 calendar year, were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes. Seventy-two hospitals were recognized on the “All Cases” list and 72 hospitals were recognized on the “High Risk” list; the 72 hospitals represent ten percent of the 722 calendar-year 2018 ACS NSQIP hospitals. Fifty-six hospitals were recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” lists, 16 other hospitals were on just the “All Cases” list, and 16 other hospitals were on the “High Risk” list only – yielding 88 hospitals in total.  These meritorious hospitals are also eligible to display these achievements amongst their staff and within their institutions.

A listing of the recognized hospitals is available here.

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. This program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery. Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced and/or eliminated, a reduction in health care costs follows. ACS NSQIP is a major program of the ACS and is currently used in nearly 850 adult or pediatric hospitals.