Cardiac Surgery Quality Collaborative

UTCSQC-Infographic for UT- HIP

PURPOSE 

The UT-HIP Cardiac Surgery Quality Collaborative (UTCSQC) is a systemwide group of the Chairs of cardiac surgery. This collaborative meets quarterly to evaluate Cardiac Surgery data across institutions for opportunities for improvement, hear from the institutions that are doing it best, and implement new practices when appropriate.  

The UT-HIP team supports both these efforts by analyzing data, developing custom visualizations, continually refining dashboards, and presenting findings to the teams.

 

WHY SOCIETY OF THORACIC SURGEONS NATIONAL DATABASE AND VIZIENT CLINICAL DATABASE? 

This program leverages the Vizient Clinical Database (CDB) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database (STS), the gold standard for cardiothoracic surgery clinical outcomes registries, with nationally recognized quality performance measures for adult cardiac, general thoracic, congenital heart surgery, and mechanical circulatory support.

 

STRATEGIC GOALS

  • Advance Excellence in Care Across the UT System
    • Strengthen the quality, safety, and value of cardiac surgery care delivered across all UT System institutions by aligning shared standards, elevating performance, and improving outcomes for patients statewide.
  • Promote Shared Learning and Best Practices
    • Create a unified environment where institutions regularly exchange insights, innovations, and lessons learned. 
  • Strengthening Systemwide Collaboration in Cardiac Surgery Research
    • Cultivate a collaborative research ecosystem that brings together surgeons, clinicians, scientists, and informaticists across the UT System to advance discovery and translate evidence into practice.
  • Leverage the Geographic Reach of the UT System for Statewide Impact
    • Utilize the broad geographic distribution of UT System institutions to expand access to high-quality cardiac surgical care and ensure patients across Texas benefit from coordinated expertise and resources. 

 

COLLABORATIVE FOCUS

The UT-HIP analytics focus on major cardiac procedures such as Coronary Artery Bypass (CABG), Aortic Valve Replacements (AVR), and Mitral Valve Repair and Replacement (MVRR). 

The following information highlights the quality metrics that have been selected for review and analytics HIP has provided.

 

SERIES OVERVIEW

2021 - Establishing A Data-Driven Foundation

UTCSQC launched with a clear vision: identify high-impact opportunities and align institutions around a shared performance framework.

  • Established baseline mortality and morbidity analytics across major cardiac procedures to understand variation in practices and outcomes 
  • Standardized data definitions to enable cross-site comparison 
  • Initiated Surgical AVR (SAVR) vs Transcatheter AVR (TAVR) outcome comparisons to assess variation in practice
  • Identified blood product utilization as a key driver of outcomes and resource use 
2022 - Benchmarking Performance and Accelerating Best Practice Adoption

With a strong data foundation in place, UTCSQC advanced into rigorous benchmarking and external collaboration, transforming insights into coordinated clinical improvement.

  • Hosted national expert Dr. Richard Prager to share high-performing care models 
  • Benchmarked outcomes against national STS performance standards, identifying performance variation across sites.  
  • Enabled cross-site comparison of clinical practices to support adoption of best practices 
2023 - Fostering Structured, Transparent Dialogue to Drive Action

UTCSQC advanced from insight to action, introducing mechanisms that directly influenced clinician behavior and institutional alignment.

  • Presented the UTCSQC program at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Annual Meeting  
  • Introduced de-identified, physician-level, multi-institutional reportingfor CABG outcomes and blood utilization. 
  • Established blood conservation champions at each site to drive local accountability 
  • Presented evidence-based guidelines for blood conservation. 
2024 - Precision Analytics to Target High-Impact Clinical Drivers

With alignment established, UTCSQC leveraged advanced analytics to focus on the most meaningful drivers of outcomes and variation.

  • Drilldown of TAVR and SAVR analysis to show outcomes stratified by age, sex and valve type. 
  • Identified early extubation performance, reoperation rates, and 30-day readmissions for CABG as key opportunities for improvement 
  • Presented blood utilization performance over time to identify differences in performance since UTCSQC initiation. 
2025 - Demonstrating System Performance Gains

UTCSQC highlighted achievements in cardiac surgery outcomes and continued to promote evidence-based best practices.

  • Multiple UT sites achieved STS 3-Star ratings for specific procedures 
  • Expanded early extubation analysis to include early extubation, prolonged intubation, reintubation rates, and total ventilation time 
  • Presented blood utilization outcomes for our sites before and after the initial Blood conservation guidelines presentation. 
  • Facilitated a thorough roundtable discussion to highlight best practices for blood conservation. 
2026 - Expanding Multidisciplinary Performance Improvement

Emphasizing the importance of teamwork and a multidisciplinary approach for achieving quality improvement.

  • Expanding collaborative participation to Nursing, Anesthesia and ICU 
  • Advanced system-wide analysis into mortality reduction for Cardiac Surgery 

CARDIAC SURGEONS QUALITY COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP 

All calls are led by the Cardiac Surgery chairs and leaders. The primary audience for the calls is the Cardiac Surgeons, Surgery and Quality leaders, STS Coordinators, and other analysts. 

UT Health Intelligence Platform 

  • ShuRon Green, Executive Director, UT Health Science Center at Houston 
  • Timothy Kraeter, Director of Clinical Performance Improvement - UT-HIP
  • Dr. Robert Murphy, Associate Dean for Applied Informatics and Associate Professor, UT Health Science Center at Houston 

The University of Texas System 

  • Jonathan Lewis, Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs 

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 

  • Dr. Michael Jessen, Chair in Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation; and UTCSQC Co-Founder 

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston 

  • Dr. Patrick Roughneen, Adjunct Professor of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at UT McGovern School of Medicine, Chair and UTCSQC Founder 
  • Dr. Anthony Estrera, Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at UT McGovern School of Medicine; UTCSQC Co-Founder  
  • Dr. Charles “Trey” Miller, Associate Vice President for Clinical Research and Health Care Quality 

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 

  • Dr. Scott Lick, Chief of Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery 

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio 

  • Dr. Lacy Harville, Cardiothoracic Surgery Chair 
  • Dr. John Calhoon, UTCSQC Co-Founder