Measuring Endoscopic Performance for Colorectal Cancer Prevention Quality Improvement in a Gastroenterology Practice

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but the majority of cases are thought to be preventable by the use of screening colonoscopy.  A gastroenterology private practice lacked quality measures to evaluate the practice’s efforts to prevent CRC.  This project assessed the practice’s adherence to CRC prevention (CRC-P) benchmarking measures regarding colonoscopy performance.  Colonoscopy performance data were gathered from a retrospective review of 90 charts using a modified form of The Colorectal Cancer Prevention Data Collection Form.  The practice stakeholders and the project leader reviewed the data, identified practice deficiencies, conducted root cause analysis, and developed practice changes to implement.  System issues were discovered as the root cause for practice deficiencies.  Implementing the prioritized recommendations and routinely benchmarking care were warranted to ensure effective practice to improve outcomes for CRC-P.  Achieving higher-value care has led to increased efforts to improve systems for measuring care, using these measures for quality improvement and directly linking quality outcomes to reimbursement.