National Evaluation of Hospital Performance on the New Commission on Cancer Melanoma Quality Measures.
To increase adherence to cancer management guidelines, the Commission on Cancer (CoC) developed and approved five melanoma quality measures in 2015. Our objectives were to evaluate formally the national performance of these melanoma measures and to examine patient, tumor, and hospital characteristics associated with adherence.



From the National Cancer Data Base (2012), patients with invasive, nonmetastatic melanoma were identified. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were based on the CoC definition for each measure. Patient-level and hospital-level adherence rates were calculated for the five measures. A hospital was deemed "compliant" if it met the CoC standard, which requires 80 % of patients to receive the measure-specific recommended care. Patient, tumor, and hospital characteristics potentially associated with higher likelihood of adherence at the patient-level were estimated using hierarchical random-effects logistic regression models.



A total of 31,598 patients from 1343 hospitals were examined. Patient-level adherence rates varied from 31.6 % (Measure 5: ≥10 axillary lymph nodes removed/examined) to 72.6 % (Measure 1: sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) appropriateness measure). Hospital-level adherence rates, ranged from 19.3 % of hospitals (N = 538 hospitals for Measure 5) to 44.8 % of hospitals (N = 1090 hospitals for Measure 3: completion lymph node dissection after positive SLNB). No hospital-level factors (e.g., teaching status) were consistently associated with better adherence.



National adherence rates to the five new CoC melanoma quality metrics are low, and most hospitals would not meet the CoC requirement of 80 % adherence. Feedback for performance of these measures to hospitals, decisions support tools, and educational initiatives are needed to improve guideline adherence.
Northwestern Institute for Comparative Effectiveness Research (NICER) in Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.|Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Department of Surgery and Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.|Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Christina A
CA
Minami
Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Jeffrey D
JD
Wayne
Northwestern Institute for Comparative Effectiveness Research (NICER) in Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.|Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Department of Surgery and Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.|Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Anthony D
AD
Yang
Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Mary C
MC
Martini
Department of Dermatology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.|Department of Pathology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Pedram
P
Gerami
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Sunandana
S
Chandra
Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
Timothy M
TM
Kuzel
National Cancer Data Base, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL, USA.
David P
DP
Winchester
National Cancer Data Base, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL, USA.
Bryan E
BE
Palis
Northwestern Institute for Comparative Effectiveness Research (NICER) in Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. kbilimoria@nm.org.|Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center (SOQIC), Department of Surgery and Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. kbilimoria@nm.org.|Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. kbilimoria@nm.org.|Department of Surgery, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA. kbilimoria@nm.org.
Karl Y
KY
Bilimoria
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001365:Axilla; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007264:Inguinal Canal; D008197:Lymph Node Excision; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D047368:Tumor Burden; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult