For more than 25 years, anesthesiologists have been at the forefront of quality improvement activities to enhance patient safety, implement best practices and execute quality initiatives at the practice level. Establishing the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation in 1985 marked a milestone in the ongoing efforts by anesthesiologists to increase quality and safety for patients receiving an anesthetic. However, in the last decade or so, the medical profession, as well as public and private payers, has increasingly emphasized how measurement can lead to improved patient outcomes, reduced costs and a more efficient delivery of care. Merging practice standards, guidelines and advisories with quality measurement has continued the tradition of improving quality and safety at the practice level.
Beginning with the Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human, published in 1999, Congress and other government agencies began to make changes that would impact medicine in ways never before experienced by...