For decades, organized medicine has attempted to measure quality of patient care and clinical outcomes. Clinical gastroenterology has been at the forefront of these efforts in terms of developing new therapies and treatments for digestive diseases. A particular challenge for gastroenterology has been how to appropriately measure quality of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy services. The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) have worked together for more than a decade on finding ways to establish scientifically sound standards for training, credentialing and quality measurement.
In response to the realization that empirical data to grade Endoscopists’ performance for the most commonly performed endoscopic procedures, colonoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, and endoscopic ultrasonography are lacking a pilot project was undertaken by leaders from clinical GI with the invaluable assistance of Sentara Health Systems (Sentara) to identify quality indicators and suggest methods to collect, empirically analyze, and report endoscopy data. The ultimate goal of the task force was to determine whether a valid and reliable comparative information measurement tool for consumers and payers could be constructed and used. Following a successful pilot project under the auspices of Sentara, the ACG and the ASGE agreed to take over the project and roll it out nationally. These data that are being collected will provide a practical, objective method to grade performance as well as prepare the industry for future reporting requirements from public and private insurers. This project is being housed in the GI Quality Improvement Consortium, Ltd. (GIQuIC).