Miriam Hospital awarded BDC designation for bariatric surgery

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island has awarded The Miriam Hospital a Blue Distinction Center+ (BDC) designation for bariatric surgery. A designation by the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program, BDCs are nationally designated health care facilities that deliver quality specialty care based on objective measures for patient safety and better health outcomes. The objective measures are developed with input from the medical community.

"The Center for Bariatric Surgery features a dedicated team of specialists - from surgeons, physicians, and nurse practitioners to behavioral therapists, nutritionists, physical therapists and nurses - all with expertise in weight loss surgery - and all committed to working alongside patients to achieve each patient's goals," said Siva Vithiananthan, M.D, chief of minimally invasive and bariatric surgery at the Center for Bariatric Surgery, a program of Rhode Island and The Miriam Hospitals. "The Blue Distinction Center+ designation supports the comprehensive care and exceptional outcomes we deliver to bariatric patients throughout Rhode Island and surrounding communities."

To receive a Blue Distinction Center+ for Bariatric Surgery designation, a health care facility must demonstrate success in meeting patient safety and bariatric-specific quality measures, including complications and readmissions, for gastric stapling and/or gastric banding procedures. A health care facility must also have earned national accreditations at both the facility level and the bariatric care-specific level, as well as demonstrate better cost efficiency relative to its peers.

The Center for Bariatric Surgery has been a Center of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery since 2011 and was reaccredited in 2014 by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP). The MBSAQIP program accredits inpatient and outpatient bariatric surgery centers in the U.S. and Canada that have undergone an independent, voluntary, and rigorous peer evaluation in accordance with nationally recognized bariatric surgical standards. Bariatric surgery accreditation not only promotes uniform standard benchmarks, but also supports continuous quality improvement.

Patients at The Center for Bariatric Surgery benefit from a full complement of services that includes medical weight management as well as bariatric surgery, and can expect coordinated, personalized care by a surgical team with 40 years of cumulative experience. Services and specialized features include:

• Coordinated preoperative and long-term nutritional and behavioral modification programs.

• A full complement of bariatric surgeries, including sleeve gatrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, gastric band, and revisional surgeries.

• Team of bariatric surgeons available 24/7 for care of all bariatric patients.

• State-of-the-art laparoscopic and minimally invasive technologies.

• Free, multidisciplinary, professionally coordinated patient support groups.

• Highly trained operating room personnel and certified nursing staff.

Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S., which provides a significant opportunity to improve quality and efficiency within the health care system. There were 179,000 bariatric surgeries performed in 2013, according to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

It is estimated that 72 million Americans are obese and 24 million suffer from morbid obesity, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related illnesses are $190.2 billion, or nearly 21 percent of annual medical spending in the U.S., according to the Journal of Health Economics.

Research shows that facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers+ demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients compared with their peers. On average, Blue Distinction Centers+ are also 20 percent more cost efficient than non-BDC+ designated health care facilities.

"Our expert team at The Center for Bariatric Surgery works one on one with patients with obesity or obesity-related diseases to offer quality, safe, effective, and long-lasting surgical treatment options," said Arthur J. Sampson, president of The Miriam Hospital, "and The Miriam Hospital is proud to be recognized by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island for that continued commitment to patient care."