Edwards Lifesciences Foundation has awarded the Center for Medical Technology Policy, Inc. (CMTP), in collaboration with Avalere Health, a grant to develop and lead a multi-stakeholder partnership to improve the adoption of enhanced recovery protocols (ERPs) and reduce mortality and morbidity of surgical patients in the U.S.

This multi-stakeholder partnership will create a forum for ongoing dialogue and facilitate collaborative work to improve and accelerate the adoption of ERPs that have been proven to improve post-surgical outcomes. Avalere’s role will be to support the development and maintenance of an effective governance structure for the partnership as well as to design a national demonstration pilot project to showcase the impact of successful implementation.

Surgical complications are a common occurrence in the U.S. Among the approximately 30 million operations performed annually, a large proportion of surgical patients have undesirable—and in many cases, preventable—levels of morbidity, mortality, and extended hospitalizations. Approximately 25% of patients who undergo inpatient surgery in the U.S. have post-surgical complications, and the rate can be even higher for major surgeries.

Avalere looks forward to partnering with CMTP to launch this effort and work on common goals to improve care and safety for millions of patients undergoing surgery. In October, CMTP and Avalere Health released a white paper summarizing insights from a June 2014 meeting entitled “A Multi-stakeholder Agenda to Advance Enhanced Recovery for U.S. Surgical Patients.” This meeting was the catalyst for building this larger and more impactful partnership.