SCAI: Enhancing patient care through quality.

A primary objective of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions is to promote excellence in invasive and interventional cardiovascular medicine through physician education and representation, and the advancement of quality standards to enhance patient care. This focus on quality as it applies to the practice of invasive cardiology is unique to SCAI, and the Society has demonstrated its commitment to quality in several ways. The cornerstone of SCAI’s quality improvement (QI) efforts is the QI Committee that initiates and coordinates SCAI’s local, regional, national, and international QI efforts. Over the past 5 years the QI Committee has been on the forefront of QI efforts worldwide and its role in the Society will expand as cath lab teams increasingly focus on quality. The QI Committee is one of 31 committees or task forces within SCAI. The specific task of the Committee is to provide guidance and recommendations for development of the Society’s policies and positions related to healthcare QI initiatives, with emphasis on quality measures, public reporting of quality measures, pay-for-performance initiatives, interventional cardiology standards development, and radiation issues. It consists of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, a staff liaison, an 11-member Executive Council, and 6 additional voting members. As with most SCAI committees, general membership is open to any member of the Society. The overall membership of the Committee has increased in recent years to a total of 60 members. The Committee holds monthly conference calls and meets in person during the SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions. The guiding principles of the Committee are best summarized in the two-part position statement by Klein et al. published in 2011 [1,2]. Over the past 4 years, the Committee has developed 5 inter-related QI programs that fulfill the Society’s mission to advance quality standards and improve patient care: 1) the SCAI Quality Improvement Toolkit (SCAI QIT); 2) the Cath Lab Best Practices Consensus Sunil V. Rao James C. Blankenship