Audit & Quality Review Services for U.S. Hospitals
CRS provides audit and quality review services that help hospitals catch abstraction errors before they reach a registry, a benchmarking report, or an external auditor. Our reviewers are clinician-trained, onshore, and familiar with the definitions and edit checks of the specific registries your program submits to, from ACC NCDR and GWTG to STS, MBSAQIP, NSQIP, cancer registries, and beyond. If your program is preparing for a site visit, has never had a chart-level audit of its abstraction, or you are simply unsure whether your current IRR would hold up under review, this page is for you.
across all registry programs
across the U.S. and Canada
NCDR, STS, MBSAQIP, and GWTG
How It Works
What Is Audit & Quality Review?
Audit and quality review is the process of independently checking abstracted registry data against the source documentation in the EMR to confirm it was pulled and entered correctly. It includes chart-level review, Inter-Rater Reliability (IRR) testing, and pre-submission checks that catch errors before a deadline rather than after a failed audit.
Every registry has its own edit checks and definitions, and small inconsistencies between abstractors compound over time into inaccurate benchmarking, failed external audits, and accreditation risk. CRS’s audit and quality review process is matched to the specific registry your hospital participates in, performed by reviewers trained on that registry’s definitions, and tracked through ongoing IRR monitoring at 98.3% or higher.
The Real Cost
What Happens When Registry Data Goes Unreviewed?
This is the question most quality directors do not fully confront until a survey is scheduled or a benchmarking report comes back looking wrong.
Unreviewed abstraction carries risk that compounds quietly. A missed data element on one chart is a rounding error. The same miss repeated across a full submission cycle skews a hospital’s benchmarking position, can trigger a failed IRR audit during reaccreditation, and in some cases invites regulatory scrutiny. Correcting a failed audit after the fact costs far more in staff time, re-abstraction, and reputational risk than a structured review would have cost up front.
CRS’s audit and quality review process typically identifies and resolves discrepancies before they reach a submission deadline, not after. You get a second set of clinically trained eyes on your data without adding headcount, and without waiting until survey season to find out where the gaps are.
The math usually surprises people. If you want to see what a chart-level review would find in your program, reach out and we will walk through it with you.
Why CRS for Audit & Quality Review?
There are several ways hospitals handle registry quality assurance internally or through a vendor. The differences come down to accuracy, flexibility, registry breadth, and what kind of partner experience you get.
CRS maintains an Inter-Rater Reliability rate of 98.3% or higher across registry programs. That is not a claim, it is a benchmark we report and monitor continuously. IRR is the standard measure of abstraction accuracy. For hospitals that need to pass external audits, maintain accreditation, or submit clean data to benchmarking databases, this number matters.
Every CRS reviewer is U.S.-based. Our team includes registered nurses and clinically experienced professionals trained on the specific registry guidelines for the programs they review. There is no offshore component. You are working with people who understand the clinical context behind the data elements they are checking.
CRS reviews data within your existing EMR and registry platform setup. We do not require you to switch systems, adopt proprietary software, or integrate with a new platform before we can start. Whether you are using Epic, Cerner, Meditech, or another system, we work inside your environment.
Our audit and quality review services cover cardiac, bariatric, surgical quality, cancer, pediatric cardiac, stroke, and more. If your hospital participates in multiple registries across different service lines, CRS can review them all under one engagement, which simplifies vendor management and keeps quality standards consistent across programs.
CRS offers one-year agreements with 30- to 60-day cancellation terms. We do not require multi-year contracts with volume commitments. You can start with one registry review and expand as needed.
Most CRS review engagements go live within days, not months. There is no technology implementation timeline standing between signing and getting a second set of eyes on your data. We get trained on your program, establish access, and start reviewing.
Which Registries Do Our Audit & Quality Review Services Cover?
CRS provides audit and quality review services across more than 25+ specialty registries. The following service lines each have dedicated registry support pages with program-specific detail:
ACC NCDR®, STS, GWTG
MBSAQIP
SEER, NCDB, CIBMTR, others
PC4, PAC3, NPC-QIC, STS Congenital
ACS NSQIP, Pediatric NSQIP, surgical registries
GWTG Stroke, GWTG CAD, vascular-specific registries
If your program participates in a registry not listed here, contact us. Our review services are not limited to the list above.
Preparing for reaccreditation and not sure your data is audit-ready?
How we fit
Full-Service or Supplemental - How CRS Fits Your Team
CRS works differently depending on what your hospital needs. Some programs use CRS for full-service abstraction and want ongoing IRR monitoring built into that engagement as a standing quality layer. Others have their own internal abstractors and simply want an independent reviewer to test accuracy, catch errors before a submission, or prepare for an upcoming survey.
Our audit and quality review services are designed to work either way. As a standing layer on top of full-service abstraction, CRS continuously monitors IRR and flags discrepancies as part of normal reporting. As a standalone service, CRS reviews a sample or full set of charts already abstracted by your internal team and delivers a findings report with specific, correctable issues. The engagement model is flexible and does not require you to choose one path permanently.
Onboarding for either model is fast. We review your program setup, registry requirements, and EMR access protocols, assign reviewers trained on your specific registries, and establish a communication and reporting cadence. Most programs are running within a matter of days.
Areas We Serve
CRS provides audit and quality review services to hospitals and health systems across the United States. Our team is fully remote, which means there is no geographic limitation on where we can work. We currently support programs in major markets including:
| Northeast | Southeast | Midwest | South | West |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY Boston, MA Philadelphia, PA Baltimore, MD Pittsburgh, PA |
Atlanta, GA Charlotte, NC Nashville, TN Miami, FL Orlando, FL |
Chicago, IL Detroit, MI Cleveland, OH Minneapolis, MN St. Louis, MO |
Dallas, TX Houston, TX San Antonio, TX New Orleans, LA Oklahoma City, OK |
Los Angeles, CA Phoenix, AZ Seattle, WA Denver, CO Portland, OR |
How CRS's Audit & Quality Review Compares to In-House QA
| In-House Quality Review | CRS Audit & Quality Review | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | $70,000-$150,000 per reviewer (salary, benefits, overhead) | 30%+ lower on average - no benefits, no PTO, no turnover costs |
| IRR accuracy | Varies - depends on training and oversight | 98.3%+ validated across all registry programs |
| Independence | Same team abstracting and reviewing its own work | Independent second set of eyes on every chart reviewed |
| Registry coverage | Limited to what internal staff are trained on | 25+ registries across specialties |
| Turnover risk | High - reviewers are in demand | No impact on your operations - CRS absorbs it |
| Platform requirements | Uses your existing systems | Platform agnostic - works in your EMR and registry tools |
| Onboarding time | Weeks to months (hire, train, ramp) | Days |
| Contract flexibility | Permanent hire | 1-year agreement, 30-60 day cancellation |
What the Engagement Looks Like
Contact
You contact us and describe your program - which registries you submit to, when your next review or survey is, and what internal QA already looks like. We can do this in a 30-minute call.
Engagement Details
We establish access protocols, assign reviewers trained on your registry programs, and set up a communication and reporting cadence.
Delivery
Ongoing: CRS monitors IRR continuously, provides audit support ahead of external reviews, and scales the review scope up or down as your program requires.
Review Scope
We provide a proposed review scope and engagement structure. This is where most quality directors see what a chart-level review would realistically find in their program.
Launch
Review begins. Most programs go live within days. You receive a findings report covering IRR, specific discrepancies, and recommended corrections.
Frequently Asked Questions About CRS's Audit & Quality Review Services
CRS reviews abstracted registry data against source documentation in the EMR for the programs you specify: chart-level review, IRR testing, discrepancy reporting, and pre-submission checks. We also provide ongoing IRR monitoring and audit support ahead of external reviews. If you need accreditation prep, abstractor training for your internal team, or full-service abstraction, those are available as additional services.
IRR is calculated by having a second, independent reviewer re-abstract a sample of charts and comparing the results against the original abstraction, element by element. CRS maintains an IRR of 98.3% or higher across all registry programs and reports this figure to clients as part of standard monitoring.
Yes. All CRS reviewers are U.S.-based and onshore. There is no offshore component to our audit and quality review services. Our team includes registered nurses and clinically trained professionals with direct experience in the registries they review.
CRS is platform agnostic. We review data within your existing EMR, including Epic, Cerner, Meditech, and others, and within your existing registry platform. We do not require you to adopt proprietary software or change your existing setup. Our reviewers access your systems using the same credentials and workflows your internal team uses.
Most CRS review engagements are operational within days of signing. There is no technology implementation timeline. We review your program setup, establish EMR access, assign trained reviewers, and begin. For programs with multiple registries or more complex workflows, onboarding may take one to two weeks, but that is the exception.
Yes. This is one of the most common reasons hospitals contact us. CRS can independently review charts already abstracted by your internal team, identify discrepancies, and provide a findings report you can act on before a submission deadline or site visit.
CRS supports audit and quality review across more than 25 registries, including ACC NCDR programs (CathPCI, Chest Pain MI, ICD, LAAO), AHA GWTG programs, STS adult cardiac, MBSAQIP, NSQIP, NCDB cancer registry, PC4, PAC3, Core Measures, and others. If your program participates in a registry not listed here, contact us, our coverage extends beyond this list.
CRS uses case-based or hourly pricing depending on the review scope and volume. There are no hidden fees, no monthly technology charges, and no minimum volume commitments. Most hospitals see a 30% or greater cost reduction compared to building an in-house review function once salaries, benefits, and turnover are factored in. Contact us to see our pricing sheet. clinicalregistrysolutions.com/contact-us/
CRS offers one-year agreements with auto-renewal and 30- to 60-day cancellation terms. We do not require multi-year contracts or volume commitments. If your situation changes, you are not locked in.
Yes. Many CRS clients have internal abstractors and use CRS specifically for independent quality review, catching errors before a submission or preparing for a survey. We work alongside your existing team rather than replacing it.