Collaborative Quality Improvement Reduces Postoperative Pneumonia After Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To date, studies evaluating outcome improvements associated with participation in physician-led collaboratives have been limited by the absence of a contemporaneous control group. We examined post cardiac surgery pneumonia rates associated with participation in a statewide, quality improvement collaborative relative to a national physician reporting program. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated 911 754 coronary artery bypass operations (July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2017) performed across 1198 hospitals participating in a voluntary national physician reporting program (Society of Thoracic Surgeons [STS]), including 33 that participated in a Michigan-based collaborative (MI-Collaborative). Unlike STS hospitals not participating in the MI-Collaborative (i.e., STSnonMI) that solely received blinded reports, MI-Collaborative hospitals received a multi-faceted intervention starting November 2012 (quarterly in-person meetings showcasing unblinded data, webinars, site visits). Eighteen of the MI-Collaborative hospitals received additional support to implement recommended pneumonia prevention practices ("MI-CollaborativePlus"), whereas 15 did not ("MI-CollaborativeOnly"). We evaluated rates of postoperative pneumonia, adjusting for patient mix and hospital effects. Baseline patient characteristics were qualitatively similar between groups and time. During the pre-intervention period, there was a 2.53% per quarter reduction in the adjusted neumonia odds ratio for STS hospitals not participating in the MI-Collaborative ( P<0.001), which was equivalent to the MI-Collaborative ( P>0.05). During the intervention period, there was a significant 2% reduction in the adjusted odds ratio for pneumonia for MI-Collaborative hospitals relative to the STS hospitals not participating in the MI-Collaborative, although was 3% significantly lower among the MI-CollaborativeOnly hospitals. The STS hospitals not participating in the MI-Collaborative had a 1.96% reduction in risk-adjusted pneumonia, which was less than the MI-Collaborative (3.23%, P=0.011). The MI-CollaborativePlus reduced adjusted pneumonia rates by 10.29%, P=0.001. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in a physician-led collaborative was associated with significant reductions in pneumonia relative to a national quality reporting program. Interventions including collaborative learning may yield superior outcomes relative to solely using physician feedback reporting. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT02068716.