ACS and SVS Release Standards for Outpatient Vascular Care

September 19, 2023—The American College of Surgeons (ACS), with the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), has released new standards for outpatient vascular centers to help them provide optimal care and treatment of patients receiving vascular surgical and procedural care.

These new standards, outlined in the Optimal Resources for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Care–Outpatient Standards manual, are part of the Vascular Verification Program (Vascular-VP). These standards provide the requirements necessary for outpatient vascular centers to achieve and maintain verification for their vascular programs.

According to ACS, Vascular-VP, which was launched in March 2023, now offers verification for both inpatient and outpatient vascular centers. The program leverages the strengths and expertise of the ACS and SVS to provide an evidence-driven, standardized pathway for instituting and growing a quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure within a center’s vascular program.

William Shutze, MD, a vascular surgeon with Texas Vascular Associates in Plano, Texas, serves as Chair of the Vascular-VP Outpatient Work Group.

“Outpatient facility verification by this program demonstrates to patients, referring physicians, regulators, and payors that high-quality, high-value vascular care is being delivered,” commented Dr. Shutze in the ACS press release. “Participants who successfully complete the verification process will be setting the standard for vascular care in their community.”

The ACS press release noted that the release of this new set of standards within Vascular-VP encourages sites to put the same emphasis on quality in outpatient settings that is applied to inpatient settings, as more surgical services are directed to outpatient centers.

These new Vascular-VP outpatient standards detail elements of vascular surgical care and quality across the following domains:

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

By participating in the Vascular-VP program and complying with these standards, outpatient vascular centers can develop the tools necessary to provide safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable care to all vascular patients, stated ACS.

As noted in the press release, Vascular-VP builds on the history of ACS quality verification programs; similar to other ACS quality programs, ACS and SVS sought to evaluate and improve the quality of care for vascular patients with the following elements:

• Program-specific standards
• Infrastructure needed to meet these standards and deliver high-quality, high-value care
• Data collection and analysis
• Verification site visits that ensure proper implementation and maintenance of these components

Centers interested in becoming verified and continuing the quality improvement journey of their vascular service are encouraged to apply online.

The Vascular-VP outpatient and inpatient standards manuals can be accessed online here. More information about Vascular-VP is available on the ACS website here.