Research and quality
The Foundation’s 2015/2016 strategic plan outlines several major initiatives that reside in the Research and Quality (R & Q) business unit. It is an exciting time for R & Q, as these interrelated initiatives will provide valuable new quality tools for our Members.
2015-2016 is another pivotal year in advancing the specialty through AAO-HNSF Research and Quality activities
by Lisa E. Ishii, MD, MHS

The Foundation’s 2015/2016 strategic plan outlines several major initiatives that reside in the Research and Quality (R & Q) business unit. It is an exciting time for R & Q, as these interrelated initiatives will provide valuable new quality tools for our Members. This issue of the Bulletin contains several articles about these initiatives, and, additionally, I have outlined other efforts in Research and Quality that are being conducted on behalf of our Members.
The AAO-HNS/F Boards approved funding for the development of a clinical data registry for the specialty at the March meeting. Clinical data registries are organized systems of data collection, storage, and dissemination that serve multiple purposes to societies. They are becoming increasingly important as the primary tool for quality reporting. However, they can also offer a central repository for otolaryngology-specific data, which can serve a multitude of needs for our membership. Dr. Denneny has written about the importance of this initiative for the future of the specialty. As described in the article on registries in this issue, we have a task force working through the planning phases now (See “Registry 101.“)
Last year the AAO-HNSF Board approved the incorporation of quality measures into the work plan of the business unit. This required building an infrastructure to support work on measures development, stewardship, and endorsement activities. The work on measures development and stewardship of existing otolaryngology measures continues. Much of the effort this year was focused on updating our existing measures for adult sinusitis, acute otitis externa, and otitis media with effusion. Measures in government programs are routinely reviewed for updates related to new evidence and based on utilization and performance rates for the measures within the PQRS program. The Performance Measures Task Force, chaired by Richard M. Rosenfeld, MD, MPH, is working toward a prioritization of measure topics for the specialty for new measures/measures groups. Now that we are through the majority of the activities related to updating our current measures, staff will be working with physician leaders and volunteers to begin development of new measures for our specialty. Measure groups, as opposed to individual measures, are important resources for our Members that allow for highly efficient quality reporting.
In addition, through the Guidelines Task Force and physician leadership of Seth R. Schwartz, MD, MPH, and Dr. Rosenfeld, and the many members who volunteer to serve on panels as their society representatives, great work continues on clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and clinical consensus statements (CCS). We now have a compendium of 13 published CPGs; four CPGs currently under development/update; four guideline topics in the queue for future development (two new and two updates); and four published CCS and one under development. The AAO-HNSF guidelines process has evolved over the past eight years and our process is recognized as best practice by leading organizations including the Institute of Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. With the ever-increasing emphasis on quality in practice, it certainly reflects well on our specialty that we have such a wide array of guidelines and consensus statements. The guidelines will inform our performance measures and our registry as our R & Q efforts come full circle.
I invite you to take the time to learn about these exciting initiatives that will help us provide the highest value care to our patients.