Anesthesiology joins nationwide MPOG consortium

The UNMC Department of Anesthesiology now is an active member of MPOG, the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group, an academic consortium of more than 70 institutions that share de-identified clinical data to improve patient care through research and quality improvement.

MPOG uses electronic de-identified health records and administrative data to analyze the interplay between patient comorbidities, surgical procedures, perioperative care, interventions and postoperative outcomes.

By combining data with a culture of collaboration, MPOG creates an environment of performance improvement and research using priorities driven by its members. More than 13.6 million anesthetic cases integrated across 51 hospitals represent the most comprehensive and detailed global perioperative anesthesiology registry.

UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, congratulated the department on its accomplishment.

“At UNMC, our ultimate goal is to transform lives,” he said. “The MPOG membership allows access to information and collaborations that will improve research and outcomes for the people we serve, both in Nebraska and beyond.” 

The department’s participation will directly impact UNMC and Nebraska Medicine by elevating the level of clinical care provided, said Mohanad Shukry, MD, PhD, interim chair of the department.

“Being part of this national collaboration opens up future opportunities, and the experience and expertise gained will benefit the entire campus, not only our department,” Dr. Shukry said.

Dr. Shukry applauded the efforts of Kyle Ringenberg, MD, associate professor at UNMC Department of Anesthesiology, and Troy Wildes, MD, vice chair of perioperative medicine, quality and safety, for spearheading the rigorous application process and setting up access to the database. He also thanked Michael Ash, MD, president and chief operating officer for Nebraska Medicine, for his support.

“This is a fine example of what a group of colleagues can accomplish,” Dr. Shukry said. “Drs. Ringenberg and Wildes provided the vision, leadership and agility to enable the department to complete the rigorous application process.”

Membership will benefit clinicians and researchers through access to care metric results and providing standardized data to support patient safety initiatives, Dr. Wildes said.

“Providers can track and evaluate their performance and use perioperative data to implement best practices and follow their progress,” he said. “Participation also opens up new avenues for clinical research, quality improvement and inter-departmental collaboration on a national level.”

Dr. Ringenberg said a unique advantage of becoming a member institution is that the department will also be able to provide individual provider reports on these same clinical indicators – showing providers where they currently excel and where their outcomes indicate an opportunity for further practice improvement.

“We now have access to the database that contains information from 50-plus member institutions and millions of perioperative data points,” Dr. Ringenberg said. “This will allow us to ask clinical questions from a research perspective that can be answered much more efficiently by leveraging this data from the entire MPOG consortium.”