Cooper University Health Care is one of 66 hospitals nationally recognized by The American College of Surgeons 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) for achieving meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care. As a participant in ACS NSQIP, Cooper is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that directs patient safety and the quality of surgical care improvements.
“We are proud to receive this recognition from The American College of Surgeons, which is a reflection of our ongoing dedication and commitment to providing outstanding surgical care for our patients,” said Francis R. Spitz, MD, FACS, vice chief of the Department of Surgery and head of the Division of General Surgery at Cooper University Health Care, who spearheaded Cooper’s effort. “To obtain this level of excellence requires coordinated efforts from all aspects of the patient care team. Our journey to excellence has included continuous multidisciplinary clinical improvement efforts.”
The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a composite meritorious outcome related to patient management in eight clinical areas: mortality, unplanned intubation, ventilator > 48 hours, renal failure, cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction), respiratory (pneumonia), SSI (surgical site infections-superficial and deep incisional and organ-space SSIs), or urinary tract infection. The 66 hospitals commended achieved the distinction based on their outstanding composite quality score across the eight areas listed above. Risk-adjusted data from the July 2017 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2016 calendar year, were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes.
ACS NSQIP is the premier 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 American College of Surgeons and is currently used in nearly 800 adult and pediatric hospitals.
Cooper University Health Care offers patients leading-edge surgical options in a world-class facility performed by some of the region’s top surgeons. At Cooper, patients have access to advanced procedures, innovative surgical techniques and state-of-the-art technology in a patient-centered environment.