Improvement in clinical TNM staging documentation within a prostate cancer quality improvement collaborative.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of a feedback and educational intervention to increase documentation of clinical tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage among urologists in a statewide quality improvement collaborative.

METHODS: The Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MUSIC) is a consortium of urology practices that aims to improve the quality and cost-efficiency of prostate cancer care. In pilot data collection activities, trained abstractors recorded medical record documentation of clinical TNM stage by participating urologists. We compared levels of TNM stage documentation in 12 MUSIC practices at baseline and after performance feedback and a collaborative-wide educational intervention. We examined patient and practice characteristics associated with documentation of TNM stage.

RESULTS: We accrued 491 and 581 men with newly diagnosed prostate cancer during the baseline and postfeedback phases of data collection, respectively. At baseline, 58% of patients had clinical TNM staging in the medical record, ranging from 19% to 96% across 12 practices (P <.05). After the intervention, documentation improved to 79% of patients overall, with 7 individual practices achieving significant improvements (all P <.05). The greatest improvements in documentation occurred among patients treated in smaller practices (ie, 1-4 urologists).

CONCLUSION: After collaborative review of staging criteria and feedback of baseline performance, urologists in MUSIC practices dramatically improved documentation of clinical TNM stage. This finding underscores the behavioral change possible with the collaborative quality improvement model and ensures the necessary risk stratification data for our ongoing efforts to improve care.