Anesthesia Quality Institute

“The organization utilizes the management of american society of anesthesiologists (asa) to provide certain program and administrative services. On january 1, 2010, aqi entered into a shared services agreement with asa whereas aqi will support the educational mission of asa by promoting the health and safety of patients of anesthesiologists by fostering advances in quality of care measurement and improvements in the delivery of anesthesia medical care; and whereas aqi, as a newly-formed corporation, has a need for certain professional services, including communications, finance, information, technology, human resources management, practice management/regulatory affairs and administrative services. The agreement also includes asa leasing office space at its headquarters to aqi.”

“The organization retains the services of an independent cpa firm to prepare the organization's form 990. Management reviews the completed form 990 and provides a copy to each member of the governing body prior to filing. The governing body is given a chance to comment and/or ask questions.”

“On an annual basis, the organization's board members and officers are required to disclose whether or not they have any potential conflicts of interest and, if so, are required to disclose them. Board members are required to abstain from voting on any issues where they have a potential conflict. The members who have a conflict must fill out a form to describe the conflict. Asa management maintains the completed forms for the organization.”

“Compensation review procedures for the president/ceo as well as the executive director are performed by a related organization, asa. The president/ceo is also the chief executive officer for asa. Outside compensation experts are utilized regarding benchmarking both positions. The aqi board approved the compensation of the executive director. The president and president-elect of asa make decisions on any merit increase for the president of aqi.”

“Governing documents and financial statements are available through applicable governmental agencies; the conflict of interest policy is available upon written request to the organization.”

“Aqi is discussing the adoption of a document retention and destruction policy.”

“The closed claims project is dedicated to the scientific studies of adverse anesthetic outcomes and studies of malpractice claims against anesthesiologists. The project has over 10,000 claims for events from 1970-2012. The project works to identify major safety concerns, patterns of injury and strategies for improving patient safety by anesthesiologists working in pain management, operating rooms, labor floors, remote locations and critical care.”