First Patient Treated in U.S.-Centered Hernia Outcomes Initiative

BG Medical has launched an initiative to improve hernia surgery outcomes.

The company is collaborating with CQInsights to determine the best systems and data sciences that can accurately measure the true value, lower costs, and effectively improve outcomes for patients suffering from hernias. BG Medical announced the first procedure has been completed in this national (U.S.-based) initiative by Dr. Mazen Iskandar, M.D., FACS, medical director, Baylor Scott & White Center for Hernia Surgery – Waxahachie and founder of the Iskandar Complex Hernia Center.

“I was thrilled when Dr. Ramshaw and the SURGIMESH team approached me to participate in this extremely important project. As a surgeon that aims to provide the highest quality of care for hernia patients, I believe that collaboration with innovative companies like CQInsights can provide the infrastructure for giving us insight into where and how we can do better. Moreover, when I was introduced to SURGIMESH, I was impressed by its unique handling properties, the softness and flexibility of the non-woven material as well as the body of clinical evidence supporting the technology,” said Iskandar.

The increasing complexity of hernia surgery stemming from the introduction of numerous types of surgical hernia repair techniques and mesh technologies over the last decade, has necessitated a high demand for clinical trials and data collection to analyze and compare safety and efficacy of different products and approaches.

SURGIMESH is the only non-woven polypropylene matrix mesh that promotes rapid and complete vascularized incorporation in just 12 days. Because of its low profile and ability to be trimmed, SURGIMESH is also easier to deploy for all types of open and laparoscopic procedures, including robotics. SURGIMESH is a proprietary 21st century alternative to the use of older knitted or woven meshes and has the potential to significantly reduce chronic pain and recurrence. 
 
“There’s not a day that goes by that our team doesn’t focus on our mission of improving hernia outcomes and lowering the cost of healthcare. By partnering with Dr. Ramshaw and the CQinsights team, we’ve committed to introducing the SURGIMESH Platform to extremely talented surgeons across the country who believe that tracking patient outcomes is of the utmost importance,” said BG Medical President and CEO John W. Huelskamp. “It begins and ends with the patient. There are over 1 million hernia surgeries performed every year. Estimates show that more than 30% of these patients may, unfortunately, suffer from long-term chronic pain, recurrences, and restricted movement after surgery. I think we can all agree that is completely unacceptable. With our partnership with the CQInsights team, and all of these extremely talented surgeons across the country, we’re going to figure this out. Patients deserve better.”
 
Dr. Bruce Ramshaw, past president of the Americas Hernia Society and co-founder of CQInsights, added, “Our team worked together for over a decade learning how to apply the principles of systems and data science to real patient care. Our CQI method is applied with the clinical team in each local environment and our data visualization tool, VALITY, allows the team to interact with the data to gain valuable insights quickly. Other attempts to analyze healthcare data are typically done with centralized data without the direct input of the front-line clinical team. Unfortunately, centralized data only produces averages, but lacks insights that can be applied locally and for different patient sub-populations. Similar to how Moneyball was introduced to major league baseball, the future of healthcare data is for the clinical team, including patients, to interact with transparent data to allow them to measure and improve the value of care for any patient care process. Our CQI method and VALITY can be applied in any clinical specialty and requires a minimal amount of time from the clinical team. We appreciate the opportunity to work with BG Medical on this CQI project and encourage other hernia surgeons interested in measuring and improving their outcomes to consider participating.”
 
CQInsights, located in Knoxville, Tenn., is a healthcare data consulting and analytics company focused on digital health transformation by applying systems and data science principles, including value-based continuous quality improvement, to real patient care.