Thursday, January 16, 2025
Long Island Jewish Valley Stream has joined an exclusive group of hospitals worldwide by earning the Quality Verification Program certification from the American College of Surgeons. The distinction makes LIJ Valley Stream the second hospital in the Northwell Health system, and the first community hospital in the tristate area, to achieve this recognition. Only 35 hospitals worldwide hold this honor.
Dr. Alex Lee, director of surgery and surgical quality at LIJVS, emphasized that since the Franklin Avenue facility joined Northwell Health, its mandate has been clear: to shed its less-than-stellar reputation as Franklin General and elevate the standard of care.
“But quality of surgery is always one of those things that’s kind of hard to determine,” he said.
The hospital submitted to an independent review by the ACS that evaluated the overall quality of surgical services, focusing on 12 key standards outlined by the ACS.
These standards, which include teamwork, data-driven improvements, and streamlined processes, are designed to enhance patient outcomes. Achieving QVP certification requires a thorough evaluation and collaboration across departments, de-manding strict adherence to best practices.
Key areas of focus include patient-centered care, evidence-based medical methods, and continuous improvement, ensuring patients receive the highest level of surgical care.
Members of the ACS visited the hospital for two days in the spring of 2023 and provided a 90-page review of its internal workings.
“We had about a year to really go through all the processes to improve and show the ACS that we met their standards,” said Lee. After that window of time elapses, “they paid us two more site visits to confirm” everything was up to snuff.
“That 90-page report was almost like a book,” said Dr. Gainosuke Sugiyama, chair of surgery at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream. “They wanted to see that we had a standard protocol to follow from the moment the patient steps into our office to their walking out of the hospital facility and aftercare.
“I didn’t realize the amount of scrutiny would be so rigorous and comprehensive.”
There were some initial shortcomings that needed to be addressed, noted Lee. One of the largest hurdles to overcome was setting up the infrastructure to gather, monitor, and analyze large volumes of healthcare data over time. That included everything from the number of surgeries performed to adverse health outcomes from surgery to unexpected returns to the operating room.
“You can’t really do improvements if you don’t know what’s actually going on,” said Lee. “And that’s a resource-heavy situation. You need people to go through the data.”
Lee enlisted the help of Dr. Paul Cheng, director of the data science division at Northwell. Leveraging his expertise in artificial intelligence, he developed programs to automate data collection, significantly streamlining the administrative work.
“This recognition from the American College of Surgeons proves the dedication and skill of our entire surgical team,” said Sugiyama. “It’s a testament to the safe, high-quality care we provide every day. We’re proud to set the standard for surgical excellence in our community.”
Jason Tan, president of LIJ Valley Stream, emphasized the importance of this milestone. “As the first community hospital in Northwell Health to achieve this honor, we’re showing our commitment to the highest standards of surgical care. Our team is dedicated to ensuring the best outcomes for every patient,” he said.
