Registry aims to improve patient outcomes by helping laboratories optimize quality and performance measures

Chicago/August 23, 2017—The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) announces the selection of ArborMetrix as its technology and analytics partner to power the National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR).

NPQR is a quality improvement and benchmarking program ASCP established in 2016. The registry, which will officially launch fall 2017, aims to improve patient outcomes by helping laboratories assess and optimize their quality and performance in key ways:

• Monitoring appropriate utilization of laboratory testing.
• Improving pre-analytical processes.
• Optimizing turnaround time and critical value reporting.
• Establishing best practices through national and peer group comparisons.
• Assessing analytical and diagnostic accuracy.

Additionally, ASCP members and others who participate will be able to use NPQR to satisfy quality reporting requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Quality Payment Program (QPP), under the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).

“NPQR is a flexible, dynamic tool designed by us in the laboratory, for us,” said Ali Brown, MD, FASCP, Medical Director of NPQR. “With NPQR, ASCP and our members will be able to improve the quality of what we do, demonstrate the value we add, and elevate the care we provide to our patients. ArborMetrix will help us achieve these goals. They have a proven track record for helping medical specialties achieve real results, improve outcomes, advance quality, and optimize CMS reporting.”

ASCP members will be able to preview NPQR at the ASCP Annual Meeting in September. The registry will feature interactive dashboards and reports that aim to drive change in processes, utilization, and ultimately patient care.

“With NPQR, ASCP is set to deliver a powerful tool for pathologists and laboratory professionals to promote best practices and improve quality,” said Kurt Skifstad, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, ArborMetrix. “The relevance of the measures within NPQR combined with our advanced analytics and real-time reports will help ASCP support its members in achieving meaningful and measurable improvements in care.”

By using ArborMetrix’s advanced features and reports, NPQR will make it easy for ASCP members and others who participate in the registry to capture and analyze data that measure adherence to clinical practice guideline recommendations, quality and performance standards, and appropriate use criteria (AUC) for laboratories. The ability to examine a laboratory’s own data and how it relates to peer organizations will give labs the edge they need to further optimize performance. The ArborMetrix platform especially delivers several benefits:

• Interactive, real-time analytics and reports on an intuitive, web-based, HIPAA-compliant interface.
• Clinical relevance with specialty-specific measures defined by pathologists for pathologists.
• Clinical depth through the ability to drill down to see patient-level details and identify best practices to improve care.

Collecting actionable data is the first step toward building best practices for utilization, benchmarking, and reporting. NPQR will emphasize elements amenable to integration within existing laboratory information systems (LISs) to minimize the need for manual data entry, and thus break down barriers for laboratories and practices to participate.

To learn more about NPQR, please contact Ali Brown, MD, FASCP, Medical Director, NPQR, at npqr@ascp.org.

About ASCP

Founded in 1922 in Chicago, ASCP is a medical professional society with more than 100,000 member board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologists, pathology residents and fellows, laboratory professionals, and students. ASCP provides excellence in education, certification, and advocacy on behalf of patients, pathologists, and laboratory professionals. To learn more, visit www.ascp.org. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ascp_chicago and connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ASCP.Chicago.

For more information, contact:

ASCP
Susan Montgomery
312-541-4754
susan.montgomery@ascp.org

ArborMetrix
Sara Lueders
734-661-7944
slueders@arbormetrix.com

< ArborMetrix
ArborMetrix is the leading provider of healthcare analytics technology and services that improve outcomes, advance research, and demonstrate safety, effectiveness, and value. The ArborMetrix team of healthcare and data science experts help their customers transform meaningful data into high-quality, real-world insights to achieve measurable results.