Legacy of Excellence Digital Flipbook

LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE

blocking by EHR vendors and the burden of Medicare reporting requirements on physicians. Since the conception of Reg-ent, another part of the registry’s scope encompassed supporting members in reporting under the Quality Payment Program (QPP) and through the evolutions of Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA), Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and the MIPS Value Pathways (MVP) program. MVP was designed to include sets of measurement options that were more relevant to a physician’s scope of practice and more meaningful to patient care. As reporting progressed in this ever-changing environment, the AAO-HNSF prioritized developing clinical pathways in Reg-ent that emulated the way members see patients and included measures that were more outcome oriented. In 2021, the Academy submitted MVP projects involving hearing loss, chronic rhinosinusitis, and early oral cavity cancer with the intention to have similar opportunities available in all specialty areas. Schmalbach et al. notes Reg-ent’s implications for practice in this 2021 research article published in Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery 1 : “Reg-ent provides the first ever HIPAA-compliant, specialty-specific registry to collect patient outcome data from the private and academic sectors. The benefits of Reg-ent are vast, from monitoring an individual’s practice and defining quality in otolaryngology-HNS to advocacy and conducting research. The aim of Reg-ent is to provide mechanisms for benchmarking, quality assessment, and performance measure development, with the overall objective of defining and guiding best otolaryngology-HNS practice. To be successful, patient diversity must be achieved within the registry to include race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Increasing [academic medical centers] AMC membership will assist in achieving this diversity so that the quality domain of equitable care can be ensured.”

HNS/F mission. This new phase harnessed the true power of data and allowed Reg-ent to reach its potential as the national otolaryngology-head and neck surgery registry. The true potential of Reg-ent could now be realized as the Academy sought to define the best care in otolaryngology through real world data, PROMS, and overall outcomes. Clinical research opportunities, including FDA-approved projects, would benefit all as otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons advanced to more individualized patient care. The Academy would also be able to develop performance measures and guidelines using this data. In May 2021, Reg-ent completed the first integrated practice data transition to OM1. This included four years of structured data from practice sites. The use of the data is intended to facilitate research by members and for the testing of adherence to clinical practice guidelines. In addition to serving as the first and only national repository of otolaryngology specific data, Reg-ent also actively advocated for our members on issues related to quality data reporting, data access, and interoperability. In collaboration with the AAO-HNS Advocacy team and the Physician Clinical Registry Coalition, Reg ent submitted comments and joint letters to CMS, the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), and Congressional leadership addressing information Attendees during the Reg-ent Users Group Conference at the AAO-HNSF 2018 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience in Atlanta, Georgia.

2019: The Young Physicians Section convened a Practice Management Working Group and developed a new Practice Management Resource webpage that was introduced at the AAO-HNSF 2019 Annual Meeting & OTO Experience.

1 Schmalbach CE, Brereton J, Bowman C, Denneny JC 3rd. American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery/Foundation Reg-ent Registry: Purpose, Properties, and Priorities. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg . 2021 May;164(5):964-971. doi: 10.1177/0194599820984135. Epub 2021 Jan 12. PMID: 33433257.

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