I am pleased to welcome you to the first Vascular Quality Initiative (VQI) Annual Meeting (VQI@VAM), which will be held on June 8th, in conjunction with this year’s Vascular Annual Meeting at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center. We have scheduled a full day program of practical QI sessions, including presentations from both QI leaders and VQI members who will be sharing their experiences in sessions designed to benefit both vascular specialists and quality improvement professionals.
Dr. Larry Kraiss
We are very fortunate to have two QI experts joining us – Dr. Michael Englesbe from the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative and Dr. Ted James from the University of Vermont – who will provide their perspectives on how we can drive quality with the VQI registries. Dr. Englesbe, as our keynote speaker, and Dr. James, our quality expert, will be addressing the practicalities, opportunities, and challenges of using registry data for quality improvement. Dr. James will also be moderating case study discussion with centers from across the country to help VQI members use the QI tools and VQI data effectively in their own practices. All the sessions are geared to demonstrating practical QI skills so that attendees can leverage their own VQI data and reporting, and discuss solutions. Registration and a $100 fee are required.
Overall, I believe that the Annual Meeting will create a valuable opportunity for both vascular specialists and quality improvement staff to see how participation in VQI can help improve the day-to-day quality of vascular care for patients. By taking a team approach, those who attend will be able to share a combination of best practice, collaboration, and benchmarking. Data managers will gain deeper insights into the value of reporting and analytics, and practitioners will able to compare their experiences with others.
This inaugural VQI Annual Meeting is an important part of our road map to the next level for the Vascular Quality Initiative’s development. It allows us to directly reach our base of over 2,800 physicians to introduce new approaches, such as tracking long-term follow-up and better measurement of the quality of vascular care, which will increase our effectiveness as practitioners.
Over the years of development of the VQI, we’ve seen the value of quality improvement data and analytics for the VQI in our practices. Now we’ve developed a valuable body of VQI-based real world experience to draw upon, which we will demonstrate at this event and going forward. I look forward to seeing you at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on June 8th for VQI@VAM.
Dr. Larry Kraiss
Chair, SVS PSO Governing Council
