Celebrating Leadership, Impact, and Innovation in Quality Care
- Sherri White
- Mar 31
- 8 min read
We’re excited to share highlights from our recent collaborative meeting, where participants from across Virginia—and beyond—joined both in-person and virtually to advance the mission of improving cardiovascular care.
Special thanks to Spectrum Medical, our generous event sponsor, for helping make this gathering possible. Whether you joined us in the room or tuned in online, your presence, insights, and engagement continue to move our work forward.
The 2025 Spring Quarterly Meeting began by recognizing Dr. Mohammed Quader, MD (VCU) for his outstanding leadership as Chair of the VCSQI Board from 2023 to 2024. Over the past two years, Dr. Quader guided the organization through a period of remarkable growth, innovation, and technological advancement.
In 2023, he championed the introduction of operational efficiency metrics to optimize procedural performance and resource utilization across member institutions. Continuing this momentum in 2024, he led the development of physician-level dashboards and quarterly performance reports, equipping clinicians with real-time insights to support continuous improvement.
His leadership not only strengthened collaboration among member organizations but also elevated VCSQI’s impact and visibility as a national leader in cardiac quality improvement. In recognition of his contributions, Dr. Quader was presented with a token of appreciation on behalf of the VCSQI community.
We are grateful for his vision, dedication, and enduring commitment to advancing cardiovascular care.
A Salute to Stewardship: Dr. Robert Lancy Named Rising Chair
VCSQI proudly welcomed Dr. Robert Lancy as the new Rising Chair. Recognized for his dynamic leadership in the 30-Day Readmission Workgroup, Dr. Lancy helped develop a robust toolkit and readmission calculator that is revolutionizing care delivery. In a heartfelt and humorous moment, he accepted the Honorary Gavel, symbolizing his commitment to stewardship and service.
“This year is the Year of Value for Members. My goal is to ensure we’re delivering more for our members—then get out of the way and let Sherri and Eddie do what they do best.”
Dr. Robert Lancey – Chair Updates | VCSQI Board
Welcome & Sponsor Appreciation:
Dr. Lancey opened by thanking Spectrum Medical for their sponsorship and acknowledged their leadership in perfusion technology. He shared a lighthearted story about recognizing their impact while scrubbing in the OR and seeing the Spectrum logo on the perfusion machine.
A Commitment to Member-Centered Leadership:
Dr. Lancey emphasized that VCSQI's mission is about the members, their teams, and the patients they serve.
“This organization is not about one person—it’s about the people who do the work and show up.”
He shared how his own professional growth, including earning a business degree, was fueled by working with VCSQI data and understanding its impact on healthcare delivery.
Power of the VCSQI Data System:
He praised VCSQI for offering a unique benchmarking system that allows users to compare performance:
Against their own past performance
Against peer hospitals
Across state and national averages
Unlike other systems, VCSQI uses data to drive improvement rather than just report numbers.
2024 Highlights:
Launch of the 30-Day Readmission Calculator (with stoplight risk system)
Progress from the DEI 2.0 Workgroup
New OR efficiency metrics
Board additions, including Dr. Weyman
UVA-led research collaborations and resident engagement
Ongoing workgroups and the expansion of the STEMI registry
Surge in peer-reviewed publications and research projects
2025 Milestones:
Welcoming new board member Dr. Yarbrough from UVA
Strategic planning led by Mike Brown
Creation of a Balanced Scorecard, with a strong emphasis on member value
"Over half of our goals are directly tied to delivering value to our members."
Annual Report Achievement:
Dr. Lancey celebrated the release of VCSQI’s Annual Report, initially just an idea in January, which came to life in record time thanks to the tireless work of Sherri White and Eddie Foner.
Membership Satisfaction Survey
Your feedback helps shape the future of our collaborative. Take a few moments to complete the Member Satisfaction Survey and let us know what’s working, where we can improve, and how we can better support your goals.
Your voice matters—help us continue building a stronger, more impactful network.
“We don’t just collect these responses—we act on them.” - Robert Lancey, MD
Honoring Collaboration: 2024 Collaborator of the Year Award
At this year’s meeting, we proudly recognized individuals whose dedication to teamwork, partnership, and cross-institutional collaboration stood out across VCSQI. Though board members were not eligible to receive the award, they were sincerely acknowledged for their contributions and leadership.
This year’s Collaborator of the Year nominees represented the very best of our community:
Cat Moore (UVA) – Celebrated for her instrumental role in advancing ECG coordination with LifeNet.
Dana Milner (VCU) – Applauded for her impactful leadership across a broad range of quality initiatives.
Eve Dallas, CCP (UVA) – The driving force behind numerous perfusion and quality improvement efforts.
Dr. Peter O’Brien (Centra) – A long-standing champion of quality improvement and a respected voice in cardiology.
🏆 And the award goes to… Megan Vaughn (Bon Secours)!
Described as a true “powerhouse” in cardiac care, Megan was honored for her remarkable contributions and the passion she brings to every initiative. Along with the title and award, she received a monetary prize in recognition of her excellence.
In her heartfelt acceptance, Megan shared:
“Every person here is impacting someone’s life you may never meet. I think I’ve found my people.”
Congratulations to Megan and all the nominees for setting the standard in collaboration and care!
Turning Data into Impact: Performance Insights from Eddie Foner
During the Spring Quarterly Meeting, Eddie Foner delivered a powerful overview of VCSQI’s latest performance metrics—highlighting how data is not only being collected but actively transformed into meaningful action and measurable results across member organizations.
Over 400,000 patient records are now matched with cost data, enabling a clearer picture of value-based care and driving smarter decision-making at both clinical and operational levels.
The STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database revealed meaningful variation in length of stay and OR efficiency across institutions. These insights are prompting important conversations and creating opportunities to streamline care delivery while improving patient outcomes.
Protocol Toolkits—including those focused on Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) prevention, 30-day readmission strategies, and perfusion efficiency—are already making a tangible difference. Early implementation is showing promising trends in both clinical outcomes and cost savings, underscoring the value of collaboration and shared learning.
Additive cost analysis further demonstrated the financial impact of quality improvement. Preventing complications like atrial fibrillation (Afib) or AKI is not only clinically beneficial—it can significantly reduce costs per case, with dramatic savings when these risks are proactively managed.
Cardiac rehab referrals and PCI efficiency metrics were also shared, spotlighting both high- and low-performers. These comparisons help drive transparency and learning, ensuring that best practices can be identified, shared, and scaled across the collaborative.
“This isn’t just about data collection,” Eddie emphasized. “It’s about using the data to improve care—and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
The numbers tell a story—and that story is one of progress, partnership, and purpose. VCSQI continues to set the bar for what’s possible when data meets action.
From Data to Insight: Updates from the Quality Committee
Judy Smith (UVA), Chair of the VCSQI Quality Committee, shared powerful updates on the committee’s ongoing work—highlighting the bridge between raw data and real-world clinical transformation.
The committee continues to focus on refining risk prediction models and frailty scoring tools, ensuring that the data used in quality improvement is both precise and meaningful. These recalibrated models help clinicians make more informed decisions and tailor care to individual patient needs.
One of the most exciting developments is the growing interstate collaboration with partners in Maryland and North Carolina, paving the way for broader data sharing, benchmarking, and regional learning across cardiac care programs.
Looking ahead, the Quality Committee is working to centralize educational materials on the VCSQI website—creating an easily accessible hub for protocols, toolkits, webinars, and training resources.
Judy also expressed appreciation for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and their continued investment in supporting data managers and quality teams, whose behind-the-scenes efforts are critical to the success of the collaborative.
“Otherwise, it’s just yeses and nos,” Judy shared. “The data must be used to improve care—that’s what drives us.”
From expanding reach to elevating precision, the Quality Committee’s work underscores a central truth: Data alone doesn’t drive change—people do. And thanks to leaders like Judy and her committee, that change is happening every day.
Join the TVT Workgroup for Data Managers!
Spotlight on Perfusion Leadership: Eve Dallas Shares Groundbreaking Insights
Eve Dallas, CCP (UVA), delivered a powerful presentation on the current state and future direction of perfusion practices across VCSQI, earning well-deserved recognition for her leadership. Eve is not only the driving force behind the VCSQI Perfusion Workgroup and the Perfect Care Goal-Directed Perfusion Initiative, but also a vital board member working behind the scenes to support multiple initiatives, including mentorship and intern development.
During her presentation, Eve unveiled findings from a tri-state survey involving Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. This collaborative effort explored practice variation in key areas such as:
DO₂ Monitoring as a perfusion adequacy marker
Use of Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution (ANH) and Retrograde Autologous Prime (RAP)
Cerebral oximetry, viscoelastic testing, and hematocrit-based transfusion triggers
Adoption of electronic medical records in perfusion documentation
Readiness for regional data collection and standardization
Initial results revealed strong engagement across states and highlighted areas of opportunity to align practices with evidence-based guidelines. Eve emphasized the potential to correlate these practice patterns with outcomes like AKI rates, transfusions, and costs—laying the groundwork for improved quality and value in cardiac care.
With plans underway to refine the data and align it with STS outcomes, Eve's work is helping set a national example of collaborative, data-driven perfusion excellence.
Introducing the PULSE Framework & Protocol Impact Tool
Sherri White closed the evening by unveiling PULSE, a new VCSQI quality improvement assessment tool designed to help member hospitals translate goals into measurable impact. PULSE, an acronym for Performance, Unity, Learning, Strategy, and Equity, represents a shared framework for evaluating progress and identifying actionable opportunities to advance patient-centered cardiac care.
Built on seven years of collaborative learning, the PULSE tool captures key domains such as post-discharge care, patient navigation, social drivers of health, cardiac rehab, surgical optimization, performance and engagement, equity, and adherence to VCSQI protocols. Each site self-scores on a 0–3 scale to reflect implementation status, allowing VCSQI to support programs with tools, peer insights, and real-time guidance.
Importantly, PULSE aligns directly with CMS’s new TEAM (Transforming Episode Accountability Model), a mandatory payment model that extends accountability 30 days post-discharge. Many VCSQI members are already impacted by TEAM, and PULSE provides a structure to prepare for success under this model by promoting care standardization, transparency, and data-informed implementation.
Ready to get started? Visit vcsqi.org/pulse or reach out to the VCSQI team for a 1-on-1 walkthrough!
Tracking Real-World Impact: The Protocol Implementation Tool
In addition to introducing the PULSE framework, Sherri revealed VCSQI’s new Protocol Implementation Tool, developed to evaluate how effectively clinical protocols translate into improved patient outcomes.
Recognizing that adopting a protocol is only the first step, this tool was created to measure what happens after implementation. It compares pre- and post-protocol outcomes—such as rates of acute kidney injury (AKI)—across VCSQI centers, offering a transparent and data-driven look at real-world impact.
Key features of the tool include:
Quarterly performance tracking over multiple years
Comparisons between adopters and non-adopters
Visualization of improvement trends
Calculation of percent change after implementation
What makes this tool especially valuable is that it supports both quantitative analysis and peer learning. Sites can see where they're excelling or lagging—and just as importantly, learn from each other’s success stories. For example, even some non-adopting centers showed improvement due to increased data awareness or partial integration of best practices, emphasizing the power of shared learning.
This tool is not just for measurement—it’s a conversation starter. It opens the door to deeper questions like:
What are the barriers to adoption?
How do we motivate change?
What implementation strategies actually stick?
VCSQI is inviting members to use this tool not just to track performance, but to drive it.
Please stay tuned to additional announcements about the tool and how to access it.
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