ACHQC Press Kit
This page contains key information for media outlets and journalists interested in learning about the ACHQC and our efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of care for patients and the healthcare community. For additional media requests, please contact Nicole Goddard at nicole@achqc.org.
About the ACHQC
The Abdominal Core Health Quality Collaborative (“ACHQC Foundation”) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, formerly known as Americas Hernia Society Quality Collaborative Foundation. The Collaborative collects and aggregates health information, including, but not limited to, long term follow up data and patient reported outcomes, and publishes and provides de-identified and limited data sets of health information related to abdominal core and hernia surgical repairs to fulfill its mission to improve outcomes and value in abdominal core and hernia patient care. Through data collection, analysis, and collaborative learning, the ACHQC provides best practices, decision support, care pathways and ongoing performance feedback to participants and partners. The ACHQC is a CMS Qualified Clinical Data Registry and is an authoritative resource for organizations to assess quality metrics and demonstrate a commitment to efficient, value-based patient-centered hernia and abdominal care. Participation in the ACHQC fulfills Part 4 of the American Board of Surgery Maintenance of Certification Program.
ACHQC Mission
"The mission of the ACHQC is to maximize the quality and value of health care for patients who suffer from hernia disease and diseases of the abdominal wall or abdominal core."
The ACHQC fulfills its mission through robust data collection and rigorous analyses to identify areas where abdominal core health may be enhanced and directly impact the quality of patient care.
Leadership
- ACHQC Medical Director: Michael J. Rosen, MD, FACS - James R. Hines Professor of Surgery, Chief, Division of GI Surgery, Northwestern University
- ACHQC Director for Quality and Outcomes: Benjamin K. Poulose, MD, MPH, FACS - Professor of Surgery, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
- Treasurer - Clayton Petro, MD, FACS - Associate Professor of Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Center for Abdominal Core Health
- Secretary - Kaela Blake, MD, FACS - Assistant Professor of Surgery, University of Tennessee Medical Center
- Coordinating Center: Ohio State University - Columbus, OH
2026 Board of Directors
- Mazen Al-Mansour, MBBS
-
Ivy Haskins, MD
-
Rana Higgins, MD
-
Anthony Iacco, MD
- Flavio Malcher, MD, MSc
- Megan Melland-Smith, MD
- Arielle Perez, MD, MPH, MS
- Michael Reinhorn, MD, MBA
- Heitor Santos, MD
- Robert Yates, MD
Considerable Achievements
- Enrollment surpassed 150,000 hernia cases
- Over 500 participating surgeons
- 45 states represented
- Over 200 peer-reviewed journal publications
- 12 ACHQC resident/fellow research grants awarded
- Designated by CMS as a Qualified Clinical Data Registry
- MOC Part 4 recognition by the American Board of Surgery
- 50 attendees at the inaugural ACHQC Quality Improvement Summit
- Over 1,000 hits on the ORACLE free online patient risk assessment tool
- Collaborative Engagement with FDA and MDEpiNet
Why Surgeons Participate in the ACHQC – in their own words
“The data obtained from this Collaborative will engage surgeons…This is our way of learning how to best take care of our patients…and not somebody else telling us how to do it or why.”
“The ability to track your own outcomes with risk adjustment is phenomenal”
Links
163,285 Patients
526 Surgeons