The CAP cancer protocols and templates are available on the CAP website. Over 525 sites have participated in the Database and have entered 1.5 million patients over ten years, of which 1.2 million are coronary bypass procedures. The data are transmitted to the Duke Clinical Research Institute where they are analyzed and reported back to each institution. No patient identifiers are used. Every six months each surgical group receives a report on the above outcomes which has been adjusted for the risk of the patients operated on.
Centers also receive information on processes of care.
From these reports, each surgical center can compare outcomes to regional and national benchmarks. An AHRQ grant supports education of surgeons on processes of care and interpretation of the data to improve these processes at the local level. The task force is developing guidelines for office-based surgery settings and is reviewing current standards of accrediting organizations, state laws and medical boards. It also will collect data for office-based surgery safety. Categories include pediatric imaging, women's imaging, and neurologic imaging.