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It has been my distinct honor and pleasure to serve as the co-director of the BMC2 Vascular Surgery Quality Collaborative in the state of Michigan for over a decade. This journey began back in 2011, with a fateful meeting with Dr. Mike Grossman and Andrea Jensen, who was then the Program Manager of BMC2. Given the high rate of morbidity and mortality that many of our patients had related to vascular surgery procedures, the idea to abstract cases from hospitals in the state of Michigan was immediately appealing to me. I would like to thank all of you who have participated, as you have made BMC2 so successful.
The collaborative has been a very rewarding part of my career and I hope that your membership in BMC2 has been beneficial as well. The collegial nature amongst the vascular surgeons and interventionalists in this CQI has been great to see. We often have lively discussions, all with the goal of improving patient care and improving processes and outcomes. Seeing how other institutions perform certain care and interventions can broaden that application throughout the State.
We have seen many important improvements across the collaborative as a whole over this last decade. A decrease in blood transfusions, postoperative MI, and surgical site infection, and a marked increase in use of aspirin and statins. We have maintained a low length of stay for carotid and endovascular repair in elective patients. This has been truly heartening to see and in many cases, our State leads the nation, particularly with evidence-based medical therapies. Cross-site peer reviews of the appropriateness of our procedures takes real buy-in by the many members of the consortium to be successful. The consortium has proven its collaboration and cooperation.
Of course, one of the best parts is working with the BMC2 administrative team at our Coordinating Center. They have constantly contributed hard work and insight into making this a better collaborative for everyone in the State. I would like to thank the current team for their support as I transition to a regular participant, rather than leader, and look forward to my continued interactions with them. I believe that BMC2 Vascular Surgery is in excellent hands with Dr. Nick Osborne as the new Program Director.
I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Peter Henke, MD
Leland Ira Doan Professor of Surgery
Section Head, Vascular Surgery
Michigan Medicine