SOQIC Core Programs
Core Topics
Illinois Quality Collaboratives
Overview
- The Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC) is comprised of over 50 hospitals in Illinois. ISQIC provides participating hospitals with a formal quality and process improvement training curriculum, surgeon mentors, and process improvement coaches as well as financial support for the implementation of QI initiatives. ISQIC existing state collaboratives that work together to improve surgical quality and safety by sharing their experiences, best practices, successes, and failures. In addition, ISQIC hospitals report and receive comparative feedback on key process measures with the ability to view and compare empirical data about hospital performance and participate in the ISQIC initiatives. Hospitals will be equipped to use their data to successfully implement quality improvement (QI) initiatives and improve care.
- The Illinois Cancer Collaborative (ILCC), in partnership with the Cancer Programs of the American College of Surgeons, is a first-of-its kind statewide cancer collaborative. Its mission is to convene a multidisciplinary learning collaborative of Illinois hospitals improving the safety and quality of care for cancer patients. The ILCC is an opportunity for Illinois hospitals to partner together to rapidly and efficiently address the unique challenges that we all face in providing safe and optimal cancer care to patients during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The ILCC offers novel strategies to support effective QI in oncology: (1) guided implementation and mentoring of QI projects, (2) high-quality, Illinois-specific comparative data augmenting the NCDB, (3) cancer-specific QI resources and education, (4) statewide sharing of best practices.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS; Michael McGee, MD; Anthony Yang, MD, MS
- Collaborating Faculty: Greg Auffenberg, MD, MS; Jeanette Chung, PhD; Julie Johnson, MSPH, PhD; Yue-Yung Hu, MD, MPH; Nisha Mohindra, MD; Ryan Merkow, MD, MS; David Odell, MD, MMSc; Mehul Raval, MD, MS; Sean Sachdev, MD; Jonah Stulberg, MD, PhD, MPH
- Fellows: Brian Brajcich, MD; Matt Chia, MD; Chelsea Fischer, MD; Hae Soo (Rachel) Joung, MD
- Staff: Brianna D’Orazio, MPH; Remi Love, MMPA; John Slocum, MPH; Jenny Slota, BS
Funding Sources
- Statewide collaboratives are supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS024516) and reflect a partnership with the American College of Surgeons. Additional funding for the ILCC comes from the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern.
Selected High-Impact Publications
Surgical Education & Culture
Overview
Continuing on the success of the Flexibility in Duty Hour Requirement for Surgical Trainees (FIRST) trial, 2019 saw the launch of The Surgical Education Culture Optimization through targeted interventions based on National comparative Data (SECOND) trial.
This effort, a collaboration between Northwestern Medicine, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the American Board of Surgery (ABS) and the Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS) is a prospective, pragmatic cluster randomized trial examining whether giving general surgery residency programs access to their performance data and an interactive toolkit of wellness interventions can improve residency program culture and resident wellness.
The SECOND Trial has enrolled 212 residency programs. For more information, please see http://thesecondtrial.org
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS and Yue-Yung Hu, MD, MPH
- Collaborating Faculty: Elaine Cheung, PhD; Caryn Etkin, PhD, MPH; Julie Johnson, MSPH, PhD; Gaurava Agarwal, MD
- Fellows: Brian Brajcich, MD; Matt Chia, MD; Chelsea Fischer, MD; Rachel Joung, MD; Andrew Hu, MD; Debbie Li, MD; Meixi Ma, MD; Brian Nasca, MD; Arielle Thomas, MD
- Staff: Daniela Amórtegui, MA; Josh Eng, PhD; Nate Monson, MS; Sarah Plummer, BA; Tia Zhan, MS
Funding Sources
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The SECOND Trial is a partnership among the following:
- Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
- American College of Surgeons (ACS)
- American Board of Surgery (ABS)
- Association of Program Directors in Surgery (APDS)
- Society of Surgical Chairs (SSC)
- Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
Selected High-Impact Publications
Hewitt DB, Ellis RJ, Hu YY, Cheung EOY, Moskowitz JT, BilimoriaKY. Evaluating the Impact of Multiple Burnout Definitions and Thresholds on Prevalence and Outcomes. JAMA Surgery 2020; in press.
Health Policy
Overview
Evaluating the impact of policy initiatives on healthcare quality measurement, improvement and delivery has been a focus area of SOQIC, and this work has resulted in numerous changes in national quality measurement, pay-for-performance programs, and public quality rating systems.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS
- Collaborating Faculty: Jeanette Chung, PhD; Cynthia Barnard, MBA, PhD; Ryan Merkow, MD, MS
Funding Sources
- SOQIC’s Health Policy efforts have been supported by the NIH, AHRQ, the American College of Surgeons, and Northwestern Medicine.
Selected High-Impact Publications
Peri-Operative Patient Safety & Surgical Safety
Overview
To identify opportunities to inform and improve the quality and delivery of surgical care, SOQIC researchers have conducted hundreds of outcomes research studies and developed tools to help clinicians provide better care.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Anthony Yang, MD, MS and Ryan Merkow, MD, MS
- Collaborating Faculty: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS; Greg Auffenberg, MD, MS; Jonah Stulberg, MD, PhD, MPH; Amy Halverson, MD; Yue-Yung Hu, MD, MPH; David Odell, MD, MMSc; Mehul Raval, MD, MS; Michael McGee, MD
- Staff: Brianna D’Orazio, MPH; Remi Love, MMPA; Jenny Slota, BS
Funding Sources
- SOQIC’s Perioperative Patient Safety and Surgical Safety efforts have been supported by the NIH, AHRQ, BCBS-IL, and numerous other organizations and societies.
Selected High-Impact Publications
Video-Based Coaching
Overview
- Video based feedback for the Improvement of Surgical Technique (VISTA) video-based feedback initiatives are learner-driven, quality improvement projects focused on actionable recommendations for refining surgical technical skill.
- We lead initiatives for Northwestern Medicine (NM) surgeons and collaborations across ISQIC. Our interactive and user-friendly website, vistavideos.org, offers busy surgeons accessible, objective, and unbiased learning opportunities through community-based feedback. Surgeons give and receive feedback anonymously while gaining CME credits and building cross-organizational partnerships.
- The VISTA project has further expanded to support the NM IQ Urology initiative led by Dr. Gregory Auffenbergand NM Technical Excellence Collaboratives. For more information, please contact surgvids@northwestern.edu or visit the VISTA website at vistavideos.org.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Jonah Stulberg, MD, PhD, MPH
- Collaborating Faculty: Greg Auffenberg, MD, MS; Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS; Heather Himelhoch, PhD, MPH
- Fellows: Bona Ko, MD, MPH; Andres Guerra, MD; Andrew Hu, MD; Brian Nasca, MD; Arielle Thomas, MD, MPH
- Staff: Neha Negrete MBA, MPH; Daniela Amórtegui, MA
Funding Sources
- Video coaching efforts are supported by NM system funds
Selected High-Impact Publications
Schlick CJR, Bilimoria KY, Stulberg JJ. Video-Based Feedback for the Improvement of Surgical Technique: A Platform for Remote Review and Improvement of Surgical Technique. JAMA Surg. Published online September 9, 2020.Pediatric Surgical Outcomes
Overview
The research team is dedicated to projects seeking to improve outcomes in children’s surgical care. The scope of their research extends from quality improvement and implementation science to advancement of clinical practice and standards of care. Our research has played a key role in the establishment of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program –Pediatric (ACS-NSQIP-P) which is now in place at more than 150 hospitals.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Mehul Raval, MD, MS
- Collaborating Faculty: Jane Holl, MD, MPH; Karl Bilimoria, MD; Julie Johnson, MSPH, PhD; Willemijn Schäfer, PhD
- Fellows: Martha Ingram, MD, MPH; Andrew Hu, MD; Salva Balbale, PhD
- Statistician: Yao Tian, PhD, MPH
- Staff: Erin Wymore, MS; Peter Graffy, MPH; Karen Miller, BS
Funding Sources
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Efforts are supported by the following:
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (R01HD099344)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R01HS024712)
- Digestive Health Foundation
- Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Selected High-Impact Publications
VacekJ, Davis T, Many BT, Close S, Blake S, Hu Y-Y, HollJL, Johnson J, StropleJ, RavalMV. A baseline assessment of enhanced recovery protocol implementation at pediatric surgery practices performing inflammatory bowel disease operations. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. Available online 27 June 2020.Northwestern Medicine Quality Innovation Center
Cancer Quality
Overview
The Northwestern Medicine Cancer Collaboratives are multidisciplinary groups of oncology care providers and quality leaders who seek to align and improve cancer care across the system. The collaboratives aim to equip hospitals and individual providers with skills to identify their local performance gaps in cancer care in a rigorous manner based on high-quality data, and then implement solutions to those problems using established process improvement methods. The collaboratives will ultimately measurably improve adherence to best practice guidelines, quality of care, and outcomes while reducing variation and costs arising from unsafe, inefficient, or inappropriate care.
Research Team
- Lead faculty
- Breast Cancer: Anthony Yang, MD, MS
- Colorectal Cancer: Ryan Merkow, MD, MS
- Lung Cancer: David Odell, MD, MMSc
- Collaborating Faculty: Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS
- Staff: Brianna D’Orazio, MPH; Remi Love, MMPA; Jenny Slota, BS
Funding Sources
Selected High-Impact Publications
Surgical Opioid Prescribing
Overview
Following surgery, surgeons frequently prescribe far more opioid pills than patients need to control their pain. These excess pills are too often consumed for non-medical indications or diverted to individuals other than the intended user. Furthermore, despite recent efforts to decrease the number of pills prescribed following surgery, patients continue to have a significant number of pills left over when their acute pain resolves.
Our portfolio of initiatives aims to reduce surgical overprescribing of opioids and develop appropriate tools for providers and families to address post-operative pain management. Using an implementation science approach, our efforts further seek to understand the effectiveness of these interventions to thus facilitate dissemination.
Research Team
- Lead faculty: Jonah Stulberg, MD, PhD, MPH; Julie Johnson, MSPH, PhD
- Collaborating Faculty: Salva Balbale, PhD; Karl Bilimoria, MD, MS; Willemijn Schäfer, PhD
- Staff: Brianna D’Orazio, MPH; Reiping Huang, PhD; Kiana Jones, BA; John Slocum, MPH
Funding Sources
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The following grants support our Opioid Reduction initiatives:
- System-Level Implementation to Reduce Excess Opioid Prescribing in Surgery – National Institute on Drug Abuse (R34DA044752)
- Preventing Opioid Misuse through Safe Opioid Use Agreements between Patients and Surgical Providers (PROMISE ME) – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R18HS027331)
- Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative (ISQIC) Opioid Reduction Initiative: Phase 2 – PaciraPharmaceuticals
- Understanding Opioid Use by Surgical Approach – Intuitive Foundation
- A Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Patient and Provider Perspectives on Opioid Use and Pain Management in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Care – Digestive Health Foundation