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Frederick L. Grover
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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;83:1918-1919
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Correspondence

Reply

Frederick L. Grover, MD, Immediate Past President, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Department of Surgery, C-305, 4200 East Ninth Ave, Denver, CO 80262

(Email: frederick.grover@uchsc.edu).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Dr Kratz’s thoughtful letter appearing in this issue of The Annals [1]. His letter discusses The Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ (STS) creation of third party payor access to the STS database. With member permission, a payor may access the STS Database to assess the quality of the cardiac care delivered to that payor’s group of patients. We are appreciative of Dr Kratz’s complimenting the success of the STS Database as a "superb tool allowing for steady improvement in the quality of cardiac surgery..." His major concern, however, is that allowing the use of the Database by payors to assess the quality of cardiac surgery may lead to "corruption of the submitted data." He speculated that, since the quality of demonstrated care may be related to the level of reimbursement from the payor, this will tempt our members to potentially falsify their data submission. He also expresses concern that the audit program (both internal and external) in place for the database is not extensive enough.

Dr Kratz brings up some potential shortcomings of this STS policy if cardiothoracic surgeons consistently engage in dishonest or . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Related Article

Use of The STS Database By Insurance Companies
John Kratz
Ann. Thorac. Surg. 2007 83: 1918. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]





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