AMERICAS HERNIA SOCIETY QUALITY COLLABORATIVE FOUNDATION
4582 S ULSTER STREET 201, DENVER, CO 80237 www.ahsqc.org

---

Organizations Filed Purposes: TO MAXIMIZE QUALITY AND VALUE OF HERNIA PATIENT CARE THROUGH COLLABORATION. THE ORGANIZATION'S MISSION IS CARRIED OUT, IN PART, BY OPERATING A QUALITY COLLABORATIVE INITIATIVE KNOWN AS AMERICAS HERNIA SOCIETY QUALITY COLLABORATIVE WHICH GATHERS, ANALYZES, COLLABORATIVELY SHARES, AND PUBLISHES DATA RELATING TO THE SURGICAL INTERVENTION AND TREATMENT OF HERNIA DISEASE IN HUMAN PATIENTS WITHIN THE UNITED STATES, UTILIZING A WEB-BASED DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM, CURRENTLY FOUND AT AHSQC.ORG.

THE ORGANIZATION CARRIED OUT ITS MISSION THROUGH ITS COLLABORATIVE COLLECTION AND SHARING OF HERNIA SURGERY DATA TO IMPROVE HERNIA SURGERY QUALITY AND VALUE.

PROGRAM #1-OPERATION OF DATA REGISTRY: THE DATA REGISTRY IS AHSQC'S PRINCIPAL ACTIVITY AS IT PROVIDES REAL-WORLD DATA UPON WHICH ALL OF AHSQC'S COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES ARE BASED. 2019 ACCOMPLISHMENTS INCLUDE THE NUMBER OF HERNIA CASES COLLECTED IN THE AHSQC PATIENT REGISTRY INCREASING FROM APPROXIMATELY 42,000 TO OVER 57,000 CASES AND THE NUMBER OF SURGEONS CONTRIBUTING DATA TO THE REGISTRY INCREASED FROM 320 TO OVER 400. AHSQC CONTINUED ITS PATIENT OUTREACH PROGRAM TO COLLECT LONG TERM PATIENT REPORTED OUTCOMES, SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING THE PERCENTAGE OF REGISTRY PATIENTS HAVING REPORTED LONG TERM OUTCOMES. AS A RESULT OF THIS WORK, AND SUBJECT TO FUNDING, AHSQC HAS DEVISED PROTOCOLS THAT CAN CAPTURE LONG TERM PATIENT REPORTED OUTCOMES AS HIGH AS 80%, A 60% INCREASE OVER PRIOR REPORTED OUTCOMES.

PROGRAM #2-EDUCATION, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, AND SUPPORT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND OUTREACH--AHSQC FOUNDATION: (A) TEACHES AND MENTORS PARTICIPATING SURGEONS ON HOW TO INCORPORATE THE DATA AND ANALYTICS AVAILABLE THROUGH THE AHSQC PATIENT DATA REGISTRY INTO THEIR CLINICAL DECISIONS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND LOWER THE COST OF CARE DELIVERED TO PATIENT; (B) HOSTS LIVE AND VIRTUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS AND LEARNING SESSIONS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR; AND (C) ANALYZES AND PRESENTS REPORTS ON THE DATA COLLECTED THROUGH THE DATA REGISTRY AT EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCES HOSTED BY VARIOUS MEDICAL ORGANIZATIONS. QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND RESEARCH SUPPORT--AHSQC FOUNDATION: (A) DEVELOPS AND PRESENTS REAL-WORLD DATA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HERNIA-RELATED STANDARDS, BEST PRACTICES, AND SPECIFIC QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS BASED ON THE DATA COLLECTED THROUGH THE DATA REGISTRY: (B) PROVIDES DATA AND ANALYTIC SERVICES TO RESEARCHERS ASSESSING CLINICAL OUTCOMES ALIGNED WITH ITS MISSION AT NO FEE, IN ORDER TO SUPPORT THEIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, RESEARCH, AND PUBLICATION EFFORTS (TO DATE AHSQC FOUNDATION HAS PROVIDED DATA AND ANALYSIS TO RESEARCHERS AND AUTHORS THAT HAS LED TO THE PUBLICATION OF 40 PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES, WHICH ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH AHSQC'S WEB-SITE); AND (C) WORKS WITH GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES TO FACILITATE THEIR USING THE DATA COLLECTED THROUGH THE PATIENT DATA REGISTRY TO SUPPORT THEIR HEALTH CARE INITIATIVES AND REGULATORY EFFORT.

PROGRAM #3-PROVIDE INDUSTRY REPORTS: AHSQC FOUNDATION PROVIDES HERNIA DEVICE MAKERS WITH ACCESS TO DATA FROM THE PATIENT DATA REGISTRY IN THE FOLLOWING REPORT FORMATS (COLLECTIVELY, "INDUSTRY REPORTS"): (I) BENCHMARK COMPARISON REPORTS THAT SUMMARIZE ALL COLLABORATIVE-WIDE DATA IN THE DATA REGISTRY (E.G., VOLUME OF SURGERIES SORTED BY WOUND CLASS, MESH TYPE, OR MESH LOCATION) ("GLOBAL REPORTS"); (II) BENCHMARK COMPARISON REPORTS THAT COMPARE THE QUALITY AND OUTCOMES OF A PARTICULAR DEVICE AGAINST ALL SIMILAR DEVICES ON AN AGGREGATED, DE-IDENTIFIED BASIS ("COMPANY SPECIFIC REPORTS"); AND (III) BENCHMARK COMPARISON REPORTS THAT ADDRESS SPECIFIC PRODUCT OR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT QUESTIONS OF INTEREST TO THE DEVICE MAKER ("CUSTOM REPORTS")-THESE REPORTS ARE OF INCREASING INTEREST TO DEVICE MAKERS FOR THEIR REGULATORY INTERACTIONS WITH THE FDA AND OTHER MEDICAL DEVICE REGULATORY BODIES. THE GLOBAL REPORTS ARE NOT UNIQUE TO ANY INDUSTRY USER, WHILE THE COMPANY SPECIFIC REPORTS AND CUSTOM REPORTS ARE UNIQUE TO A PARTICULAR USER. THE GLOBAL REPORTS AND THE COMPANY SPECIFIC REPORTS ARE GENERATED USING A TEMPLATE DEVELOPED BY AHSQC FOUNDATION, AND WILL REQUIRE LITTLE SELECTION SERVICES, WHILE THE CUSTOM REPORTS WILL BE GENERATED ON A MORE INDIVIDUALIZED BASIS AND REQUIRE MORE SELECTION SERVICES. CUSTOM REPORTS ARE SIMILAR TO THE REPORTS PROVIDED TO PARTICIPATING SURGEONS AND CERTAIN ACADEMIC RESEARCHERS WITHOUT CHARGE TO SUPPORT THEIR RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION EFFORTS. AHSQC FOUNDATION GENERATES THE INDUSTRY REPORTS USING THE SAME METHODOLOGY AND SERVICES THAT HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR THE COLLABORATIVE-WIDE BENCHMARK COMPARISON REPORTS THAT IT GENERATES FOR OTHER COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES. THE INDUSTRY REPORTS USE THE SAME IDENTICAL DE-IDENTIFIED DATABASE THAT IS AVAILABLE TO ALL OTHER DATA USERS, AND PRESENT THE DATA IN A MANNER SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO OTHER COLLABORATIVE-WIDE REPORTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO ALL OTHER DATA USERS (E.G., USE OF A SUBSET OF CLINICAL DATA BY A SURGEON OR RESEARCHER).

---

---

Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (public 990 form dataset) from: https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202001959349304750_public.xml