GIQuIC Colonoscopy Quality Registry Surpasses 1 Million Colonoscopy Cases

BETHESDA, Md., Nov. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The GI Quality Improvement Consortium, Ltd. (GIQuIC), a joint initiative of the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, announced today that more than 1,000,000 colonoscopy cases have been submitted to its national registry of endoscopic procedures.

GIQuIC registry participants have contributed real-time procedure related data from over one million colonoscopies and the growth rate for the registry has increased to nearly 15,000 new cases per week in recent months, with an accompanying surge in the growth of the number of practices and physicians involved in this quality improvement effort.

GIQuIC is a national registry that fosters the ability of endoscopists and endoscopy facilities to benchmark themselves, and provides impetus for quality improvement. Over 80 clinically relevant data fields for colonoscopy are collected and more than ten quality measures are benchmarked, including rate of cecal intubation, adenoma detection rate, prep assessment, and appropriate indications for procedure, among others. Quality metrics for EGD procedures are also collected in the GIQuIC registry. Over two thousand physicians from endoscopy centers nationwide have registered to participate in this ground-breaking initiative. These measures reflect the best science and evidence base for the performance of endoscopic procedures. 

The collection of real-time data from more than one million colonoscopies is an important milestone for those gastroenterologists who were early adopters of GIQuIC and whose forward thinking helped reach this threshold. "Every additional user makes the registry more valuable for everyone else who uses it," commented Irving Pike, MD, FACG, FASGE, President of the GIQuIC Board. "As the data accumulates, the potential value of GIQuIC, not only as a national benchmarking tool, but also as a research database, grows," he added.

"Reaching one million cases from the 100,000 cases we reported just two years ago has exceeded our expectations. We expect this number will steadily increase as there is more emphasis from payers and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for physicians to document compliance with quality measures," said Glenn M. Eisen, MD, MPH, FASGE, Vice-President of the GIQuIC Board.

"GIQuIC is leading the way among reporting systems and helping physicians meet quality compliance requirements."

In May 2014, CMS approved the GIQuIC registry as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR), which is a new reporting mechanism for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). This reporting option allows providers to report on measures that are meaningful to their specialty practice and will foster improvement in the quality of care provided to patients while being in compliance.

About GIQuIC
The GI Quality Improvement Consortium, Ltd. ("GIQuIC") is an educational and scientific 501(c)(3) organization established by gastroenterologists, physicians specializing in digestive disorders. GIQuIC is a joint initiative of the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). GIQuIC has developed and utilizes various measurements of the endoscopic techniques of practicing gastroenterologists, a process referred to as benchmarking. These measures reflect the best science and evidence base for the performance of endoscopic procedures. This national benchmarking project began by measuring data related to common endoscopic procedures employed by gastroenterologists. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive medical procedure that is used to assess the digestive system organs by inserting a tube orally into a patient's stomach or rectally into the patient's colon. The physician founders of the GIQuIC believe that the scientific measurement of the quality of endoscopic procedures will improve the quality of the medical care being given to patients throughout the United States and abroad, and ultimately will improve the quality of public health. For more information about the GIQuIC registry, visit www.giquic.org.

About the American College of Gastroenterology
Founded in 1932, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) is an organization with an international membership of more than 13,000 individuals from 80 countries. The College is committed to serving the clinically oriented digestive disease specialist through its emphasis on scholarly practice, teaching and research. The mission of the College is to serve the evolving needs of physicians in the delivery of high quality, scientifically sound, humanistic, ethical, and cost-effective health care to gastroenterology patients. For more information, visit www.gi.org.

About the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
Since its founding in 1941, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) has been dedicated to advancing patient care and digestive health by promoting excellence and innovation in gastrointestinal endoscopy. ASGE, with more than 13,000 members worldwide, promotes the highest standards for endoscopic training and practice, fosters endoscopic research, recognizes distinguished contributions to endoscopy, and is the foremost resource for endoscopic education. Visit www.asge.org and www.screen4coloncancer.org for more information and to find a qualified doctor in your area.

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SOURCE American College of Gastroenterology

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