AMGA Recognized as Honoree of 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 Award
Today, AMGA was named an honoree of the 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 award. This prestigious, biennial award nationally recognizes and honors 50 organizations using analytics to solve business challenges. AMGA’s nomination focused on colorectal cancer (CRC) screening.
Alexandria, VA – Today, AMGA was named an honoree of the 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 award. This prestigious, biennial award nationally recognizes and honors 50 organizations using analytics to solve business challenges. AMGA’s nomination focused on colorectal cancer (CRC) screening.
“We are proud to be among the organizations named an honoree of the 2023 Drexel LeBow Analytics 50 award,” said Elizabeth Ciemins, PhD, MPH, MA, AMGA vice president, research and analytics. “Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the United States. Our research and measure development work, along with AMGA Foundation quality initiatives, offers an opportunity for tangible progress in implementing a more comprehensive measure for CRC screening.”
The award nomination contained three components: business challenge, analytics solution, and impact. AMGA recognized CRC screenings as a business challenge to address. Since organizations use quality measures to prioritize improvement initiatives, the current quality measure for CRC screening, which fails to reflect the full testing process, is a critical blind spot.
By examining data from the electronic health records (EHRs) of 21 AMGA members in a study supported by Exact Sciences, AMGA’s research and analytics team identified the need for an EHR-based companion quality measure that targets follow-up when a patient screens positive, thereby filling in the gap where the current quality measure falls short. Collaborating with AARP and Optum Labs, AMGA developed detailed specifications for a companion quality measure and tested measure reliability, feasibility, and validity, using de-identified EHR data from 38 organizations.
Based on the impact of this work, AMGA Foundation launched a best practices learning collaborative focused on CRC screening and follow-up, also funded by Exact Sciences. The collaborative will work with 20 AMGA member organizations, using both the standard quality measure (reflecting initial CRC screening) and this new, EHR-based companion measure. Interest was further inspired by the finding that rates of timely follow-up after a positive stool-based test are 12% lower for Black or African American and Asian patients, offering participating organizations an opportunity to develop tools and resources to address health disparities. This carefully specified and well-studied new measure will enable tracking of impact in the new collaborative.
To learn more about AMGA’s research and analytics initiatives, visit the AMGA website.
To learn more about AMGA Foundation’s CRC Screening Best Practices Learning Collaborative, visit the AMGA website.
###
About AMGA
AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of healthcare in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans. To learn more, visit amga.org.