Overview

The Clinical Outcomes Assessment Program (COAP) is a Washington State initiative designed to produce clinical information needed to improve quality of care and meet the growing demand for accountability in the health care industry.

COAP’s physician-led Management Committee, in partnership with State officials and key stakeholders, has created this program as a model of collaboration in which Washington State’s cardiac community can work together toward a common goal — improving patient care and health outcomes. COAP’s timely reporting mechanism provides hospitals with clinical feedback on a quarterly basis.

Through the protection of Washington State law and private contract, COAP offers special protection for the confidentiality of quality improvement information. COAP is operated under the auspices of the Foundation for Health Care Quality a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation.

COAP’s Unique Value

• COAP’s mission is to improve the quality of care for patients with heart disease who receive cardiac interventions. All hospitals in Washington State that perform open heart surgery and “PCI” or percutaneous coronary interventions, participate in COAP.
• COAP relies on clinical data submitted by 35 Washington hospitals. Data is entered and reviewed for errors on a quarterly basis and hospitals receive quarterly and annual reports as well as an annual risk-adjusted dashboard report.
• COAP establishes quality standards by peer consensus and holds institutions accountable for performing to those standards.
• COAP can document statistically significant improvements in quality in the following areas of clinical focus: reduced mortality; decreased time on the ventilator, increased use of internal mammary artery grafting and reduced blood use during cardiac surgery; and lower door-to-balloon times in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.