Frequently Asked Questions

Click on the questions below to receive drop-down responses to some of the commonly asked questions.

1. What is The Guideline Advantage™ program?

Formerly the AHA’s Get With The Guidelines®-Outpatient (GWTG-Outpatient) program, The Guideline Advantage is a jointly directed quality improvement program from the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association. This program works with practices’ existing EHR or health technology platform (system where the site enters clinical or administrative data) to seamlessly extract relevant patient data and provides quarterly reports and benchmarking on adherence to guidelines. The program re-launch the week of March 28, 2011 will incorporate the data collection and reporting of relevant cancer and diabetes elements to the existing cardiovascular elements outlined in GWTG-Outpatient. This expansion in data collection will allow participating practices and clinics the ability to submit information across several chronic disease conditions. In addition, our oversight Steering Committee now includes volunteer leadership from both cancer and diabetes specialties.

2. Who is eligible to participate in The Guideline Advantage?

Acute care facilities, physicians, assistants and advanced practice nurses practicing in cardiology, neurology, endocrinology and oncology, as well as osteopathic medicine, family practice, general practice and internal medicine are eligible and are the most likely to reap the benefits of The Guideline Advantage.

3. What are the benefits to participating physicians/practices?

• Valuable analysis of patient care using proven guidelines known to improve quality of care
• Longitudinal care analysis
• Enhanced teamwork and camaraderie among staff as you improve performance together and celebrate measurable gains
• Official AHA recognition for commendable patient care
• Additional opportunity for you to secure financial incentives or reimbursements
• Professional education opportunities, including Webinars and networking events
• Full access to AHA patient education materials
• Ongoing contributions to research that can further scientific knowledge and improve standard medical practices

For more information about these benefits, click here.

4. What is the cost to participate in the program?

The Guideline Advantage does not charge participating practices, health technology or EHR vendors; however, EHR vendors may assess limited start-up costs, based on their compatibility testing processes.

5. How does The Guideline Advantage help me achieve my business goals?

The Guideline Advantage can improve many aspects of your practice.  In addition to the primary goal of improving patient health, we help streamline your efforts to manage your practice effectively.  Participating outpatient practices receive quarterly reports providing performance feedback and comparative benchmarking information. Reports are intended to help you identify and focus on specific areas for improvement, and highlight better practices, tools and resources to drive quality. The program includes a recognition component to publicly acknowledge inaugural participation and performance achievements by participating practices. 

Additionally, data from The Guideline Advantage feedback reports can also be used to complete American Board of Internal Medicine’s Self-Directed Practice Improvement Module (PIM) and to earn credit for ABIM Maintenance of Certification (MOC). Additionally, The Guideline Advantage is working to align the program with those meaningful use (MU) measures that will be most directly related to conditions and risk factors of interest to the ACS/ADA/AHA. Currently, the core clinical quality measures are captured in our ideal data set.

6. What is the operational model of The Guideline Advantage program?

Here are the key initial points established by The Guideline Advantage program. We provide:

• Scientific analysis through Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), a world leader in medical research
• Compatibility to various platforms for seamless data transfer
• Quarterly feedback reports
• Sharing of tools and interventions
• Recognition of inaugural participants
• Recognition for achievement in quality improvement

Secure and beneficial participation in DCRI’s national data analysis.  For more details, click here

7. What is the role of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI)?

The Duke Clinical Research Institute is a non-profit organization whose mission is to share knowledge and improve patient care through innovative data analysis. DCRI is the largest organization of its kind and will provide data warehousing, analysis and confidential, secure reporting to participating physicians and program administrators. Visit this page for more information about DCRI’s role in The Guideline Advantage, or you may wish to visit the DCRI's Web site.

8. Will this program help my practice move into an electronic health records (EHR) system?

Yes, for those practices now moving from paper records to electronic records, The Guideline Advantage can be integrated into your practice by choosing a vendor who is currently signed on to The Guideline Advantage program. If you would like to read more about vendor selection, click here.  Additionally, The Guideline Advantage offers solutions for those practices in transition between EHRs or contributing to data repositories, health information exchanges or national reporting. The program can accept any standard file export already established within your platform.  To express your interest in participating, register for additional details.

9. Can I participate in The Guideline Advantage if I am not utilizing an electronic health record (EHR) or health technology system?

No, the program does not accept paper records.  The first step in participation is implementing an electronic health record or health technology platform. There are a number of options for practices to select when considering an electronic health record or health technology platform.  Practices are able to submit data directly to the program or via compatible health technology vendors.  To find out more about beginning this process and identify those vendors compatible with our program, click here. The Guideline Advantage does not endorse a specific vendor. 

10. Can my practice participate if my EHR/health technology vendor is not yet contracted?

Although The Guideline Advantage is working diligently to become compatible with a number of vendors, many have been delayed in their participation due to other priorities in today’s marketplace.
Should your practice wish to move forward with participation without delay, you can do so using one of the following options:

• If you have in-house technical staff, you may independently match and submit data to the program. This option is known as the practice-managed model.
• If you do not have in-house technical staff, you may export a standard data file from your EHR system, in any format, and transfer to DCRI with no data mapping or compatibility required by your site.  This option is known as our zero configuration model.

To express your interest in participating, register  to receive additional details

11. What is the technical platform for The Guideline Advantage?

Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) has a customized platform that integrates with multiple electronic health record (EHR) vendors and direct with practices. If you are signed on with a compatible vendor, you do not need to make any additional adjustments for technical compatibility.

 

The Guideline Advantage works with outpatient electronic health record (EHR) or health technology systems, using data already entered into the EHR, to track measures for wellness, primary prevention and longitudinal care. We welcome submission of all data elements currently collected through your practice’s EHR.

 

There are three ways to participate in the program:

1. EHR or health information technology platforms may match and submit data collected in your practice’s existing platform. 
2. Practices with technical staff may independently match and submit data to the program without the involvement of the EHR vendor.
3. Your practice may export a standard data file from their EHR system and submit directly to the program.

 

For more information about this technology, click here.

12. How is The Guideline Advantage program different from the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke and Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure programs?

The Guideline Advantage promotes optimal outpatient care and seeks to bring similar evidence-based measures of quality used in hospital-based care into the broad continuum of care offered in the ambulatory clinics and offices around the country. The Guideline Advantage assesses a broader scope of measures relevant to cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular and stroke care.  This includes primary and secondary event prevention and promotion of healthy lifestyles for all patients over the age of 18.  Review our Fact Sheet for more details.  Get With The Guidelines-Stroke and Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure target quality of acute care during the patient's hospital stay. 

Additionally, while the guidelines are consistent, the inpatient and outpatient program model differs. The hospital program is a Web-based platform, powered by the Patient Management Tool TM (PMT) created by Outcome Sciences, Inc. The outpatient program is not Web-based. Instead, data is collected directly through your electronic health record or health technology system.

13. What type of data do participating medical practices provide for The Guideline Advantage?

Participating practices provide basic demographic information, and medical history, including risk factors, prior events, ongoing treatments, lab work, vital signs, medications and contraindications to medications along with additional data measures commonly being collected in the EHR systems.  Click here to view a sample.

14. Does The Guideline Advantage program place more value on computer-driven decision making and less value on the healthcare professional's critical thinking?

The Guideline Advantage places the highest value on the healthcare professional's critical thinking skills for improving patient outcomes. The reports and technology are tools to aid critical thinking and assist you in the study of your own practices in comparison with others. Additionally, The Guideline Advantage statistics help you consider what works for the greatest number of patients and document the clinical decisions for individuals you believe fall outside the statistical range.

15. What if the data reports indicate my practice is performing lower than what I know to be true?

If your numbers are off your mark, we will help you find out why. Your practice will benefit when you are confident that your numbers accurately reflect your success. Together we can discover whether you have a technological glitch, inconsistent reporting or an unexpected area of weakness to improve. If your data is indeed an error, DCRI will work with you to fill in the missing numbers, and the changes will be reflected on your next report. For more information on this topic, click here.

16. Will there be a recognition program for The Guideline Advantage?

The Guideline Advantage will recognize inaugural participants of the program as leaders in quality improvement. Additionally, the program will begin implementing an achievement recognition program after program reporting has begun.

17. Is The Guideline Advantage currently inviting electronic health record (EHR) vendors to become compatible with this program?

Yes, if you represent an electronic health record (EHR) system, we welcome your participation in this program. Click here to visit our page for EHR vendors.

18. Does The Guideline Advantage have supporters?

The Guideline Advantage does not currently have program sponsor. Program staff is actively recruiting sponsors.

19. Will The Guideline Advantage help my practice achieve Meaningful Use of my healthcare technology/EHR system?

While The Guideline Advantage does not have a formal software platform which could serve as a module for certification, The Guideline Advantage looks to focus its program’s data elements and measures with both the Meaningful Use (MU) core set objectives and core clinical quality measures. Currently, the eligible professionals (EPs) core clinical quality measures are captured in our ideal data set. However, as the program accepts any and all of the data elements outlined, it does not mean that all participants in The Guideline Advantage will comply with MU if participating in our program. 

The Guideline Advantage will continue to be flexible as the measures and core set established by CMS continues to expand and will look toward continued alignment with the federal standards. The Guideline Advantage is poised to serve the ambulatory setting as the adoption of EHRs continues at a rapid pace and regional extension centers offer services to generate continued uptake of such certified electronic health technology.