National leader to present Michigan’s experience in establishing heart surgery quality collaborative
There is a growing body of evidence that the development of a collaborative among Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgeons statewide has made a significant impact on positive outcomes and the overall quality of care in surgical procedures. Michigan is one of several states to establish such a collaborative network and demonstrate measurable success in its initiatives.
Dr. Richard Prager, project director of the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Quality Collaborative (MSTCVS QC), will be a special guest of UK HealthCare and the Department of Surgery from Monday, Dec. 14 – Tuesday, Dec. 15. During his visit, he will talk with several targeted groups of UK physicians and administrative staff about “The Michigan Experience,” creating the collaborative of surgical programs and the improvements in the overall quality ratings of the state’s adult cardiac surgery programs that has been engendered.
Prager’s keynote presentation, Quality Improvement in Cardiac Surgery: The Michigan Experience, is scheduled for Tuesday morning, December 15, at 6:30 a.m. in the Kentucky Clinic A301 Conference Room.
Dr. Prager is the Richard and Norma Sarns Research Professor of Cardiac Surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. He was among the leadership that first promoted the quality collaborative (QC). It is a voluntary, surgeon-directed initiative and it involves all cardiac surgery programs in Michigan. In many ways, the QC reflects similar cooperative initiatives that UK HealthCare has involved itself in association with Kentucky’s other leading health care systems and hospitals.
“There are well over 1000 surgical heart programs operating throughout the country. Michigan, Virginia, and New England are among several states to use these collaboratives to share research data, information, and ideas. Dr. Prager is a big part of the Michigan collaborative’s success,” commented Dr. Sibu Saha, chair of the division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the UK Department of Surgery.
Dr. Prager will follow a busy itinerary during his two-day visit to the University of Kentucky. In addition to his presentation on Tuesday morning, he will be meeting with faculty members from Cardiac Surgery, Anesthesiology, and Cardiology. He will also be sitting in on case presentations with residents and fellows as well as the monthly “Hangin’ With Zwisch” research colloquium at noon on Tuesday.
For more information about the MSTCVS QC, click this sentence to visit their website.