Initially, ACS THRIVE leaders will pilot the value-measurement process with 10-15 hospitals in the U.S., focusing on measuring the full cycle of care – including its key surgical, medical, behavioral and social elements – for three surgical conditions. Results from the pilot will be used to create a scalable approach that all hospitals can use to measure and improve value. The method will also include risk-adjusted benchmarks, so hospitals can compare their value with one another to generate system-wide improvement. High-value providers will be recognized, while those with opportunities for improvement can learn from the best practices of the high-value hospitals and health systems.

The new program will build on the two organizations' expertise in cost and quality measurement. ACS has been a leader in hospital quality since it first proposed its Hospital Standardization Program in 1912, which evolved to become The Joint Commission. In 1922, the ACS created the Commission on Cancer, which today sets standards used by 80 percent of U.S. cancer centers. In the 1960s, the ACS Committee on Trauma was an instrumental leader in helping establish the nation's trauma system. And in the early 2000s, the ACS launched the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®), recognized as the gold standard for collecting clinical, risk-adjusted, 30-day surgical outcomes data.

"We know quality improvement requires accurate and reliable data, with risk and case-mix adjustment," said Clifford Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, FASCRS, Director of the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care. "Clinical data, not claims data, are routinely the best data to use. However, data alone are not sufficient. Appropriate and adequate resources, infrastructure and adherence to evidence-based standards are all likewise needed to provide high-value care. ACS has a long history of helping providers and hospitals achieve these aspects reliably."

The HBS Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness was founded by recognized business strategy leader Michael Porter. His 2006 book, Redefining Health Care, laid the groundwork for how to measure value in health care. The Institute's leaders, including Prof. Kaplan, have created some of the most important business strategy and cost-measurement methods in the world, including time-driven activity-based costing, or TDABC, an accounting method that is recognized as one of the most effective means of measuring and improving an organization's costs.

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