FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON June 16, 2016
American Academy of Neurology Develops New Healthcare Quality Data Registry
Deemed “Qualified Clinical Data Registry” by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
MINNEAPOLIS -
In its efforts to promote the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care, the American Academy of Neurology has developed a neurology focused clinical quality registry called Axon Registry™. Quality improvement of neurology care is the focus of the Axon Registry. Currently there are 17 quality measures in the registry and seven new measures will be added soon covering conditions such as dementia, epilepsy, headache, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and sleep apnea. Participating members and practices see their performance rates for each of the measures on their Axon Registry User Dashboard. Participation in the registry continues to grow. “The potential to reach more neurologists and support quality improvement in a variety of neurologic diseases is exciting,” said Bruce Sigsbee, MD, FAAN, former AAN president and Registry Committee chair. Recently, the registry was also approved as a 2016 qualified clinical data registry (QCDR) by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “This will give a better picture of the overall quality of care provided by neurology because the QCDR will collect information on quality measures that matter to neurologists from all payers, not just Medicare,” said Sigsbee. “The level of interest from across delivery settings and subspecialties is proof that neurologists are interested in using data for quality improvement.” Axon Registry is successfully extracting data directly from many electronic health record systems. Thirty-nine practices and 455 members participate in the first three pilot cohorts. There are more than 840,000 patient visits in the Axon Registry and projections show the potential for over two million patient records by the end of 2016. The fourth pilot cohort will include approximately 25 more practices and more than 200 additional members participating in the Axon Registry. “Information from registries, like the AAN’s Axon Registry, also can be used to compare the performance of health care providers on patient outcomes,” Sigsbee said. To learn more about the AAN’s Axon Registry, please visit AAN.com/view/Axon.