NPQR Provides Tool to Benchmark and Establish Best Practices

In today’s healthcare environment, the demand for performance is a primary concern as health systems aim to improve the quality of care while reigning in ever-increasing costs. This need has fueled demand for benchmarking in order to measure the medical laboratory’s performance against that of other health systems.

Seeking to gather more robust data to compare to its sister institutions, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine’s Pathology Department last year began participating in ASCP’s National Pathology Quality Registry (NPQR). ASCP’s Registry is a national quality and benchmarking program that captures data that measure adherence to clinical practice guideline recommendations, quality and performance standards, and appropriate utilization of laboratory testing. It provides support for pathologists and lab professionals to drive improvement through the use of real-time data analytics from their own laboratories, integrated with national and peer group comparisons.

“We (UAB’s Pathology Department) think we are doing a great job, but thinking it and improving it are not the same,” says Gene Siegal, MD, PhD, FASCP, UAB’s Executive Vice Chair and Mowry Endowed Professor of Pathology. “NPQR will help us to drill down on all the real-time data of pathology and laboratory medicine and, theoretically, identify those areas which are not operating at the highest level. Then, we will be able to make improvements. We will also be able to establish best practices through peer-group discussions and comparisons.”

Until now, there has not been a centralized national registry to gather this kind of data, he notes. “Previously, it’s been based on more subjective information which is, more often than not, based on the reputation of an institution or its ‘superstars’ than on any objective evidence to show quality of care,” says Dr. Siegal, President-Elect of ASCP.

ASCP subject matter experts have developed a set of consensus-based measures, which NPQR captures and communicates. It presents valuable data to aid laboratories in developing action plans to drive improvement, and helps labs effectively operationalize best practices. Once baseline data is examined, NPQR provides educational support to help facilitate downstream changes to improve patient care, starting in the laboratory. These valuable educational materials can be used to satisfy CME and CC (formerly MOC) requirements, providing a practical resource for members with just one tool.

Regardless of the size of a lab, test volume or specialty focus, NPQR has measures that can be used to guide quality improvement.

“As incoming president of ASCP, I believe it’s important to lead by example and have, therefore, come early to participate in this registry,” Dr. Siegal says. “ASCP has been a great partner (for UAB) to work with, it is clearly committed to this undertaking.

To learn more about the benefits of participating in NPQR, click here. For more information and descriptions of NPQR's measures click here.