NACOR Participation Steps
STEP 1
Complete the "Send Me Info" Form
The NACOR participation process starts by communicating your interest via the
"Send Me Info" form at the top of this page.
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Provide your name, practice name (spelled out), practice location and your contact information.
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Indicate whether or not you are already participating in the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR). If yes, select your practice from the drop down list.
- Indicate whether or not you are interested in participating in the Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR). If you are interested you will receive an email directing you to the ASA website for more information. You must participate in NACOR in order to participate in the QCDR. You must sign additional contracts with ASA for QCDR reporting.
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Participation in NACOR requires the use of a vendor for NACOR's minimum dataset.
Please select one of the following three vendor options from the drop down list:
- (a) Find and select your vendor
- (b) Choose "My vendor is not on the list"
- (c) Choose "My group does not use a vendor"
If you use a vendor (a above) an email will be sent to you describing next steps to participate in NACOR:
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ASA membership status will be verified for each provider and ASA Member services will contact you regarding membership status or NACOR participation fees.
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Review and sign the NACOR Participation and Business Associate Data Use Agreements.
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Submit payment for NACOR participation and/or ASA membership fees.
- Obtain NACOR login.
If your vendor is not in the drop down list (b above), please refer them to our website page on becoming a vendor. If you do not use a vendor (c above), you will need IT resources to submit data in the required XML format. Please visit the AQI website for for technical documents and resources. You will also receive an email describing next steps to work with your vendor or IT resources to develop a file in NACOR's required XML format.
Steps 2-8 apply only if you selected a vendor from the drop down list on the Send me Info form.
STEP 2
Verify ASA Membership for Each Provider in Your Group
ASA member physicians are not charged for NACOR participation as a benefit of ASA membership.NACOR participation is based on the care-team model so supervised/directed anesthesia providers may participate at no charge regardless of ASA membership status. Independent anesthesia providers who are not ASA members are subject to a $1,000 annual fee per provider.
STEP 3
Review and Sign the NACOR Participation and Business Associate Data Use Agreement
- You will receive an email with the NACOR agreement attached (along with the spreadsheet in Step 2). The agreement contains language consistent with existing medical registry standards and delineates data ownership, data use and HIPAA compliance. Email the signed Agreement together with the completed spreadsheet from the Step 2 to the Ask AQI email. The agreement will be countersigned and a copy will be emailed to you for your records. If minor revisions are needed to the Agreement, please make changes in Word Track Changes mode so they can be reviewed.
STEP 4
Submit Payment of NACOR Participation and/or ASA Membership Fees
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ASA Member Services will email you an invoice for NACOR participation and/or ASA membership where applicable. Payment must be received before your group receives a NACOR login and the data submission process begins.
STEP 5
Obtain NACOR login for Your Group
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AQI will email the practice champion (specified on the provider roster spreadsheet) a username and password to provide access to the Members Only website where the group's data will be accessible. The champion may assign additional logins and permissions behind the practice login by clicking on the USERS box at the top of the page. Instructions for completing the group Practice Survey and next steps for preparing to submit data will be included in the email.
STEP 6
Complete the Web Practice Survey
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Log on to the AQI website under the Members Only area of the home page. An email was sent to the practice champion designating a username and password along with some brief instructions for completing the practice survey (Step 5). Instructions are also provided on the INSTRUCTIONS tab at the top of the group's web page. The web portal is the entry point for participating practices to provide background information about their group, its members and their activities. This is important data for reporting and benchmarking purposes.
The practice survey portion of the portal page (see boxes at top of page) consists of four Sections that require your input: 1) Practice, 2) Providers, 3) Facilities, and; 4) Technology Information. Please complete each section. Note that some fields are pre-populated based on information you already provided during the contract process.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
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The practice tab asks for an "AQI Champion" along with their email address and phone number. This is the person who will be liaison between the practice and AQI. All AQI Communications including practice report announcements and general member issues will be addressed to the AQI Champion. The AQI Champion and AQI Champion email fields may be pre-populated by AQI based on previously provided information. Feel free to edit these fields if the contact information changes. You may choose to enter the same name for one or more contacts depending on local conditions.
PROVIDERS QUESTIONS
AQI will load the Provider data that was submitted with your NACOR Participation Agreements. Please allow 5 working days to view the Provider data. Please verify the Provider data for accuracy and enter any fields not previously completed. At minimum, we require Provider ID, Provider Full Name (for ASA membership verification only), NPI Number, and Provider Type (MD, DO, CRNA, etc.).
The Provider ID is a practice specific provider/staff ID (used by your anesthesia billing software) to identify the provider(s) who worked on the case - you should work with your billing vendor to obtain this information. This is the provider identifier that will come over in your NACOR data uploads. Your practice reports will utilize the Provider IDs; so it is important that these are consistent in both the Providers Survey and your monthly data uploads. Since we do not store provider names in the registry, you will need to maintain a crosswalk (Provider name/Provider ID/Provider NPI) locally for your reference.
Note that Provider roles MD, DO, and CRNA are required data to properly represent the care team model. AA, SRNA, Resident, Fellow, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner and Surgeon roles are optional depending on whether or not case data captures their activities. We recommend using 'Other' for locum tenens, per diems and other anesthesia providers not defined in the drop down.
It is important to make updates to your Provider Information as changes occur - we suggest at minimum a quarterly review and update. If case data contains a Provider who is not listed in the Providers Survey, our system will automatically create a default record with the ID number (and Provider role if identified). However, the remaining Provider fields will need to be updated by the practice.
FACILITIES QUESTIONS
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The Facility ID is a practice specific facility ID (used by your anesthesia billing software) to identify the facility where the cases was performed - you should work with your billing vendor to obtain this information. This is the facility identifier that will come over in your NACOR data uploads. You have the option of entering a Facility Name. If you choose not to enter a Facility Name, your practice reports will utilize the de-identified Facility IDs; so it would be important to maintain a crosswalk locally for your reference. Please note that Facility Type (university hospital, large community hospital, medium community hospital, small community hospital, specialty hospital, outpatient surgery center (attached), freestanding surgery center, pain clinic, surgeon office and dental office) is a required field within the Facility Survey. This is important data for benchmarking reports.
It is important to make updates to your Facility Information as changes occur - we suggest at minimum a quarterly review and update. If case data contains a Facility that is not listed in the Facilities Survey, our system will automatically create a default record with the ID number. However, the remaining Facility fields will need to be updated by the practice.
TECHNOLOGY QUESTIONS
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Please share what data you are currently collecting and the name of your software vendor(s). The "Technology Contact" is the person who will orchestrate the data upload to NACOR. Some Technology fields may be pre-populated by AQI based on information provided earlier. Feel free to edit these fields if information changes.
STEP 7
Prepare to Upload Billing/Case Data
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Notify your billing software vendor that you are participating in NACOR. Preferred Vendors have a login to upload files on behalf of their clients. Vendors submit a test file which contains one month of data. AQI will review and approve the test file with the vendor and request historical data (if available) back to January 2011. Going forward, vendors upload files monthly to NACOR. A key for automated data loading can be provided.
STEP 8
View Your Practice Report
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Login to your practice page and click on the REPORTS box at the top of the page. File uploads are reviewed and processed for production within ten working days (if specifications are met), and reports are refreshed nightly. If your data files includes QCDR data, those fields will post on the following Monday.
Questions may be directed to NACOR.
Please include your AQI Practice ID in all correspondence with AQI.