Accreditation status and geographic location of outpatient vascular testing facilities among Medicare beneficiaries: the VALUE (Vascular Accreditation, Location & Utilization Evaluation) study

Tatjana Rundek; Scott C Brown; Kefeng Wang; Chuanhui Dong; Mary Beth Farrell; Gary V Heller; Heather L Gornik; Marge Hutchisson; Laurence Needleman; James F Benenati; Michael R Jaff; George H Meier; Susana Perese; Phillip Bendick; Naomi M Hamburg; Joann M Lohr; Lucy LaPerna; Steven A Leers; Michael P Lilly; Charles Tegeler; Andrei V Alexandrov; Sandra L Katanick

doi:10.1177/1358863X14547561

Accreditation status and geographic location of outpatient vascular testing facilities among Medicare beneficiaries: the VALUE (Vascular Accreditation, Location & Utilization Evaluation) study

Vasc Med. 2014 Oct;19(5):376-84. doi: 10.1177/1358863X14547561. Epub 2014 Sep 1.

Authors

Tatjana Rundek¹, Scott C Brown², Kefeng Wang², Chuanhui Dong³, Mary Beth Farrell⁴, Gary V Heller⁴, Heather L Gornik⁵, Marge Hutchisson⁴, Laurence Needleman⁶, James F Benenati⁷, Michael R Jaff⁸, George H Meier⁹, Susana Perese¹⁰, Phillip Bendick¹¹, Naomi M Hamburg¹², Joann M Lohr¹³, Lucy LaPerna¹⁴, Steven A Leers¹⁵, Michael P Lilly¹⁶, Charles Tegeler¹⁷, Andrei V Alexandrov¹⁸, Sandra L Katanick⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA [email protected].
² Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
³ Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
⁴ Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC), Ellicott City, MD, USA.
⁵ Department of Vascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
⁷ Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute, Baptist Hospital of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
⁸ Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Vascular Surgery, University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Vascular Surgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹¹ Vascular Laboratory, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, USA.
¹² Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
¹³ Good Samaritan Outpatient Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
¹⁴ Riverside Radiology Associates, Columbus, OH, USA.
¹⁵ University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹⁶ University of Maryland School of Medicine, Vascular Laboratory, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹⁷ Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
¹⁸ University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.

PMID: 25179647
DOI: 10.1177/1358863X14547561

Abstract

Objective: There is limited information on the accreditation status and geographic distribution of vascular testing facilities in the US. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provide reimbursement to facilities regardless of accreditation status. The aims were to: (1) identify the proportion of Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) accredited vascular testing facilities in a 5% random national sample of Medicare beneficiaries receiving outpatient vascular testing services; (2) describe the geographic distribution of these facilities.

Methods: The VALUE (Vascular Accreditation, Location & Utilization Evaluation) Study examines the proportion of IAC accredited facilities providing vascular testing procedures nationally, and the geographic distribution and utilization of these facilities. The data set containing all facilities that billed Medicare for outpatient vascular testing services in 2011 (5% CMS Outpatient Limited Data Set (LDS) file) was examined, and locations of outpatient vascular testing facilities were obtained from the 2011 CMS/Medicare Provider of Services (POS) file.

Results: Of 13,462 total vascular testing facilities billing Medicare for vascular testing procedures in a 5% random Outpatient LDS for the US in 2011, 13% (n=1730) of facilities were IAC accredited. The percentage of IAC accredited vascular testing facilities in the LDS file varied significantly by US region, p<0.0001: 26%, 12%, 11%, and 7% for the Northeast, South, Midwest, and Western regions, respectively.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that the proportion of outpatient vascular testing facilities that are IAC accredited is low and varies by region. Increasing the number of accredited vascular testing facilities to improve test quality is a hypothesis that should be tested in future research.

Keywords: Geographic disparities; Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC); Location & Utilization Evaluation (VALUE) Study; Medicare beneficiaries; Vascular Accreditation; Vascular laboratory testing accreditation; Vascular testing.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Accreditation*
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Ambulatory Care / standards
Ambulatory Care / trends
Ambulatory Care Facilities / standards*
Databases, Factual
Diagnostic Imaging / standards*
Diagnostic Imaging / statistics & numerical data
Female
Health Services Accessibility / standards*
Health Services Accessibility / statistics & numerical data
Humans
Male
Medicare / economics*
Medicare / statistics & numerical data
Middle Aged
United States
Vascular Diseases / diagnosis*

Grants and funding

K24 NS 062737/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States