title: New quality monitoring tools provided by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients: CUSUM.
abstract: The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) has been providing data on transplant program performance through semi-annual release of program-specific reports (PSRs). A consensus conference held in February 2012 recommended that SRTR also supply transplant programs with tools such as the cumulative sum (CUSUM) technique to facilitate quality assessment and performance improvement. SRTR developed the process, methodologies, programming code and web capabilities necessary to bring the CUSUM charts to the community, and began releasing them to all liver, kidney, heart and lung programs in July 2013. Observed-minus-expected CUSUM charts provide a general picture of a program's performance (all-cause graft failure and mortality within the first-year posttransplant) over a 3-year period; one-sided charts can determine when performance appears to be sufficiently worrisome to warrant action by the program. CUSUM charts are intended for internal quality improvement by allowing programs to better track performance in near-real time and day to day, and will not be used to indicate whether a program will be flagged for review. The CUSUM technique is better suited for real-time quality monitoring than the current PSRs in allowing monthly outcomes monitoring and presenting data recorded as recently as 2 months before the release of the CUSUM charts.
authors: Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, Minneapolis, MN.
authors: J J
authors: JJ
authors: Snyder
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Salkowski
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Zaun
authors: S N
authors: SN
authors: Leppke
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Leighton
authors: A K
authors: AK
authors: Israni
authors: B L
authors: BL
authors: Kasiske
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011786:Quality Control; D012042:Registries; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: Graft survival; outcomes monitoring; patient survival; quality improvement