Enhancing Quality for Patients. Advancing the Delivery of Care.
AMSURG is shaping the future of healthcare delivery and leading the ambulatory surgery center quality movement.
Commitment to Quality
AMSURG and its physician partners are committed to providing quality care that helps patients live longer, healthier lives. Through our commitment to data analytics, research, engagement and transparent reporting, we provide healthcare value, improve patient experiences and save lives. Our ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) measure:
Patient Experience
Clinical Outcomes
Safety and Quality
Patient Experience
Surgery centers across the AMSURG network work diligently to deliver an ideal experience to our patients.
More than 95 percent of AMSURG’s partnering ambulatory surgery centers participate in Press Ganey’s Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Survey (OAS CAHPS). Our centers consistently exceed the national benchmarks for “overall patient experience” and “likelihood to recommend.”
Several AMSURG ASCs have won Press Ganey’s Guardian of Excellence Award, which means they scored in the 95th percentile for patient experience, employee/physician engagement or clinical quality performance. AMSURG ASCs also regularly outperform hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), consistently ranking in the 80th percentile in 2020—even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Patients often can find individual centers’ Press Ganey results on their websites.
I felt very comfortable and safe with all of the staff and facilities during my recent visit to have a colonoscopy performed. Every effort was made to ensure my safety as a senior citizen, and the procedure was completed in a little more than an hour.
Clinical Outcomes
AMSURG’s clinical quality team continuously reviews quality and patient safety data in each AMSURG center. Our goal is to consistently meet and exceed national benchmarks for clinical outcomes.
As a result, we know AMSURG ambulatory surgery centers perform better than most other ASCs and most hospitals.
Patient Experience
Better than national benchmark
Infection Rate
Better than national benchmark
Medication Variance Rate
Better than national benchmark
Partners in Quality
AMSURG partners with our physicians and employees to deliver the highest standards of care and quality. Our centers are Medicare approved and undergo voluntary accreditation by the Accreditation Associations for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) and the Joint Commission. They also voluntarily comply with the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) survey process.
AMSURG and its ASCs also follow the research, guidance and best practices of other partners and stakeholders, including:
- Cleveland Clinic Quality Alliance
- ASC Quality Collaboration
- American Cancer Society
- U.S. Multi-Society Task Force
- U.S. Preventative Services Task Force
Ensuring Quality During Crisis: COVID-19
AMSURG surgery centers are experts in infection control, but to establish a COVID-free environment in every ASC, AMSURG created a comprehensive playbook that included resources ranging from staffing models to facility checklists to guidance on how to respond to a local community’s unique COVID-19 status.
Our ASCs also:
- Screened patients, staff and anyone entering the center for symptoms and other risk factors, including travel.
- Implemented strict social distancing protocols within the center and required PPE at all times.
- Enhanced their already stringent cleaning and disinfection procedures, from entrance through patient discharge.
- Introduced a mechanism to track cases for a longer period post-operatively so centers could find cases in their communities and identify potential exposure to staff and clinicians.
If there was a 1-10 rating, I would have to give SCEC a 15! From the moments I arrived until I left, caring, friendly, professional staff. I felt I was in such good hands, which gave me a great sense of ease.
GIQuIC: An Example of Our Clinicians’ Commitment to Quality
FACT: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of U.S. cancer death
FACT: More than 10 percent of all new colorectal cancer cases are in patients under age 50
FACT: High quality colonoscopies save more lives
Exceeding Benchmarks
A 2014 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that for each one percent increase in adenoma detection rate (ADR) – a measurement that indicates how carefully a colonoscopy is performed – there is a three percent decrease in colorectal cancer risk. A 2020 study published in the Annals of American Medicine found patients who received just one negative colonoscopy were at a lower risk for colorectal cancer for up to 17.4 years – but only if they had an exam with an ADR of more than 20 percent.
AMSURG surgery centers measure quality performance through GIQuIC – and from ADR to withdrawal times, they perform above industry benchmarks. Our physician partners’ ADRs also improve over time with participation in GIQuIC.
Advocacy for Earlier Colonoscopies
AMSURG and its ASCs also advocate for earlier access to high-quality colonoscopies.
Why? In 2019 alone, our partners identified more than 300 cases of colorectal cancer in patients under the age of 50. We removed polyps from more than 24,000 patients who had not yet reached age 50.
Providing patients earlier access to high-quality screens saves lives.
Quality Improves Over Time with GIQuIC
Performing Above National Benchmarks
Withdrawal Time Directly Impacts ADR
