ACS, SVS release new standards for patient care in outpatient vascular centers

Editor's Note

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) have come together to release new standards for outpatient vascular centers aimed at enhancing the quality of care provided to patients receiving vascular surgical and procedural treatments, an ACS September 19 press release reports. These standards are detailed in the Optimal Resources for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Care—Outpatient Standards manual, part of the Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP), launched earlier this year by the ACS and SVS.

The purpose of these standards is to establish prerequisites that outpatient vascular centers must meet to attain and sustain verification for their vascular programs. This verification serves as a testament to patients, physicians, regulators, and payers that these centers deliver high-quality, cost-effective vascular care. According to the press release, the release of these new outpatient standards highlights the growing significance of maintaining the same high-quality standards in outpatient settings as in inpatient facilities, particularly as more surgical services shift to outpatient centers.

The Vascular-VP outpatient standards detail elements of vascular surgical care and quality across nine areas, including:

• Institutional commitment
• Program scope and governance
• Resources for facilities, equipment, services, and personnel
• Clinical care
• Data abstraction and analysis
• Quality improvement.

Compliance with these new standards through participation in Vascular-VP equips outpatient vascular centers with the tools needed to deliver safe, effective, patient-centric, timely, efficient, and equitable care to all vascular patients, was emphasized in the press release.