SVS VQI and Symmetric Health Solutions Partner to Improve Medical Device Identification Accuracy

Organizations will work together to eliminate variances and data discrepancies and ensure hospitals meet FDA reporting requirements

Chicago, IL – September 28, 2021 – The Society for Vascular Surgery® Vascular Quality Initiative® (SVS VQI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving vascular quality within hospitals and outpatient facilities, today announced its partnership with Symmetric Health Solutions, for the purpose of elevating the consistency and integrity of medical device data utilized by vascular health professionals.

The partnership with Symmetric Health Solutions, an industry-leading software company for healthcare supply chain data, will enable SVS VQI to eliminate inaccuracies and variances in medical device reporting, which carry clinical consequences. It will also strengthen SVS VQI’s commitment to interoperability, by ensuring data is clean and consistent across all health system IT interfaces.

Physicians who use SVS VQI registries, powered by Fivos’ PATHWAYS Platform, will benefit from the availability of accurate, reliable, and consistent device information. Currently, 850+ healthcare organizations subscribe to SVS VQI registries, and count on Unique Device Identifier (UDI) and associated data from the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) public portal — Access Global Unique Device Identification Database (AccessGUDID) — for making real-time decisions about vascular medical procedures, including complex surgeries.

Symmetric Health Solutions’ technology leverages advanced machine learning algorithms to surmount the data challenges that AccessGUDID users face. These include, but are not limited to:

• No UDI on the device label
• Different UDI-DIs for the same product
• Difficulty matching a captured UDI-DI with the UDI-DI record in AccessGUDID
• UDI-DI not found in AccessGUDID or missing catalog information
• Variances in AccessGUDID data from missing information, poor formatting, etc.
• Company name issues resulting from mergers and acquisitions
• Inability to use GMDN terms as a way of grouping similar devices resulting from manufacturers incorrect assignments
• Lack of automated feedback loops with FDA or manufacturer to resolve data quality issues

“The supply chain is the source of truth, and our job is to ensure the data we are getting from AccessGUDID is as clean and accurate as possible,” says Jim Wadzinski, Executive Director, Society for Vascular Surgery Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO). “Previously, healthcare organizations experienced multiple problems with the FDA’s database in terms of entering information or being unsure of which data to use. This would lead to data discrepancies, which potentially would alter the scope of care. To support what the FDA is trying to do with promoting interoperability, we need the data to be completely accurate and consistent. Symmetric’s software can augment UDI data so we can use the solution across our registries.”

While UDI and AccessGUDID are foundational to the FDA’s interoperability goals, Fivos and SVS VQI customers will benefit from Symmetric’s machine learning, natural language processing, and optical character recognition technology that improves the completeness and accuracy of existing AccessGUDID data and offers data on products that are not available in AccessGUDID.

This is particularly important, considering that medical device manufacturer mergers have created new challenges with device identification.

“When a manufacturer is acquired, AccessGUDID still lists its devices under the previous manufacturer rather than the new parent company, making it difficult to identify the device being used,” said Carrie Bosela, Senior Director, SVS PSO. “Symmetric’s technology will resolve the merger-acquisition issue for the end user making it easier for them to find their device.”

Rich Kucera, co-founder and CEO of Symmetric Health Solutions, added, “ Our partnership with SVS VQI and other registries is an important step toward realizing AccessGUDID’s goal of providing hospitals and industry with high quality, accessible medical device data to improve operations, patient safety, and interoperability.”

About SVS VQI

The Society for Vascular Surgery® Vascular Quality Initiative® (SVS VQI)  is governed by the SVS Patient Safety Organization (SVS PSO), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Society for Vascular Surgery, which provides oversight of data sharing arrangements, key outcome and quality measure analyses, and dissemination of information to participating providers. The VQI comprises vascular surgeons, cardiologists, radiologists, and other specialists who perform vascular procedures collected in the VQI Registries. Participating centers are divided into 18 regional quality groups. These groups meet biannually to discuss initiatives for improving quality of vascular care.

Since its inception in 2011, the SVS VQI has raised the bar for vascular care, quality improvement and patient outcomes. Today the Initiative includes participating medical centers, with more than 850 hospitals and ambulatory facilities overseeing 850,000+ procedures for individuals with vascular conditions. More than 4,500 physicians have incorporated vascular procedures across the VQI’s 14 different vascular registries.

In addition to improving quality within hospitals and outpatient facilities, the VQI supports efforts to reduce costs as well as vascular quality research.

To learn more about SVS VQI, please visit https://www.vqi.org 

About Fivos

Medstreaming and M2S are now Fivos Health. Founded in 2006, Fivos is the industry’s only provider of comprehensive data solutions for specialty providers, medical registries and device manufacturers. By taking a holistic approach to data capture, insights and action, Fivos helps drive innovation, improve outcomes and lower costs for unique clinical workflows. Vascular, cardiovascular, women’s health and other specialties can leverage Fivos solutions to manage workflows, assess performance, measure risk and meet regulatory markers. To learn more about Fivos and its suite of solutions, visit www.fivoshealth.com.  

About Symmetric Health Solutions

Symmetric Health Solutions provides hospitals and healthcare organizations with data and analytics to solve their toughest supply chain challenges. Hundreds of acute care hospitals rely on our software to automate processes, improve their bottom line, and keep patients safe. Our software is powered by the latest innovations in ML, NLP and OCR, enabling our customers to overcome long-standing challenges in medical device identification. Symmetric believes in a transparent global healthcare system, where accurate, complete information is readily available to whomever needs it. Learn more at www.SymmetricHealthSolutions.com.