IV 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 202 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 22, 2009 Mr. Boustany (for himself and Mr. Kind) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Celebrating the goals and ideals of 20th anniversary of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database.

Whereas The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is a not-for-profit organization representing cardiothoracic surgeons, researchers, and allied health professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible surgical care for patients with diseases of the heart, lung, esophagus, and other organs in the chest; Whereas the STS supports data-driven approaches to quality measurement, quality improvement, and quality reporting and recognizes that the collection of clinical data and the feedback of those data to physicians improve patient outcomes; Whereas the STS believes that physicians are in the best position to measure clinical performance both accurately and objectively; Whereas in 1989, the STS established the STS National Database, which has become the premier voluntary clinical data registry for cardiothoracic surgery dedicated to providing a program by which cardiothoracic surgeons can report clinical data; Whereas the STS National Database includes three component parts, the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database, the General Thoracic Surgery Database, and the Congenital Heart Surgery Database; Whereas the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database has grown to include participants representing more than 2,800 surgeons from 49 States and is estimated to capture 90 percent of all cardiac surgery centers in the United States with more than 3,900,000 records for cardiac surgical procedures; Whereas in 2008, the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database recorded 270,345 procedures performed by cardiothoracic surgeons, of which, 139,060 involved Medicare beneficiaries; Whereas feedback to individual physicians on performance from the STS National Database has led to improved quality; and Whereas the STS National Database is recognized in medicine as the premier cardiothoracic surgery database: Now, therefore, be it

That Congress— (1)celebrates the goals and ideals of the 20th anniversary of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database; (2)applauds the use of data from the STS National Database to benefit patients by providing the most efficient and appropriate medical care; (3)recognizes the need to support and promote the creation of additional clinical databases in medicine; and (4)commends cardiothoracic surgeons for demonstrating their dedication to professional responsibility and the highest level of patient care by continued use of the STS National Database.