Development of a prospective biliary dashboard to compare performance and surgical cost

William M. Tian, Doreen Chang, Melissa Pressley, Makala Muhammed, Philip Fong, Wendy Webster, Garth Herbert, Scott Gallagher, Christopher R. Watters, Jin S. Yoo, Sabino Zani, Suresh Agarwal, Peter J. Allen, Keri A. Seymour*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Transparency around surgeon level data may align healthcare delivery with quality care for patients. Biliary surgery includes numerous procedures performed by both general surgeons and subspecialists alike. Cholecystectomy is a common surgical procedure and an optimal cohort to measure quality outcomes within a healthcare system. Methods: Data were collected for 5084 biliary operations performed by 68 surgeons in 11 surgical divisions in a health system including a tertiary academic hospital, two regional community hospitals, and two ambulatory surgery centers. A privacy protected dashboard was developed to compare surgeon performance and cost between July 2018 and June 2022. A sample cohort of patients ≥ 18 years who underwent cholecystectomy were compared by operative time, cost, and 30-day outcomes. Results: Over 4 years, 4568 cholecystectomy procedures were performed by 57 surgeons. Operations were done by 57 surgeons in four divisions and included 3846 (84.2%) laparoscopic cholecystectomies, 601 (13.2%) laparoscopic cholecystectomies with cholangiogram, and 121 (2.6%) open cholecystectomies. Patients were admitted from the emergency room in 2179 (47.7%) cases while 2389 (52.3%) cases were performed in the ambulatory setting. Individual surgeons were compared to peers for volume, intraoperative data, cost, and outcomes. Cost was lowest at ambulatory surgery centers, yet only 4.2% of elective procedures were performed at these facilities. Prepackaged kits with indocyanine green were more expensive than cholangiograms that used iodinated contrast. The rate of emergency department visits was lowest when cases were performed at ambulatory surgery centers. Conclusion: Data generated from clinical dashboards can inform surgeons as to how they compare to peers regarding quality metrics such as cost, time, and complications. In turn, this may guide strategies to standardize care, optimize efficiency, provide cost savings, and improve outcomes for cholecystectomy procedures. Future application of clinical dashboards can assist surgeons and administrators to define value-based care. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8829-8840
Number of pages12
JournalSurgical Endoscopy
Volume37
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2023
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cholecystectomy
  • Dashboard
  • Gallbladder
  • Quality
  • Value

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Development of a prospective biliary dashboard to compare performance and surgical cost'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this