Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center announced recently that it has been named an American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence. This national designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.
The ASBS Centers of Excellence program was created to recognize bariatric surgery centers that perform well and to help surgeons and hospitals continue to improve the quality and safety of care provided.
"The fact that we earned the Center of Excellence distinction confirms the high level of care provided by the Penn State Surgical Weight Loss Program for nearly three decades," said Robert Cooney, M.D., chief, division of general surgery. "We have a dedicated team in place committed to helping patients achieve and maintain healthy weight loss and improve quality of life."
To earn a Center of Excellence designation, the Medical Center underwent a series of site inspections during which all aspects of the program's surgical processes were closely examined and data on health outcomes was collected. The Medical Center and other centers receiving the Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation agree to continue to share information on clinical pathways, protocols and outcomes data.
Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), an organization dedicated to pursuing surgical excellence, formulates and establishes the rigorous standards with which the Medical Center and other Centers of Excellence must comply, thoroughly inspects and evaluates each candidate for designation, and upon review recommends approval of designation for those physicians and facilities whose practices and outcomes meet the stringent demands set forth by SRC for ASBS.
In October, the Medical Center was named a Blue Distinction Center for Bariatric Surgery by Capital BlueCross, in partnership with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, for demonstrating reliability in delivering bariatric surgical care and better overall outcomes for patients.
The comprehensive surgical weight loss program at Penn State Hershey Medical Center was started in 1979, and offers a multidisciplinary approach, including nutritional counseling, medical evaluation, psychiatric evaluation and weight loss surgery -- including roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (lap band) -- for patients with clinically severe obesity. For more information about the Penn State Surgical Weight Loss Program, visit http://www.pennstatesurgicalweightloss.com online.
About Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Founded in 1963 through a gift from The Milton S. Hershey Foundation, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is one of the leading teaching and research hospitals in the country. The 500-bed Medical Center is a provider of high-level, patient-focused medical care. Annually the Medical Center admits more than 26,000 patients, accepts more than 766,000 outpatient visits, receives nearly 48,000 patients for emergency room visits and performs more than 23,000 surgical procedures. The Medical Center campus also includes Penn State College of Medicine (Penn State University's medical school), Penn State Cancer Institute, and Penn State Children's Hospital -- the region's only children's hospital.
About American Society for Bariatric Surgery
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) is the largest society for this specialty in the world. Founded in 1983, foremost American surgeons have formed the society's leadership and have established an excellent organization with educational and support programs for surgeons and allied health professionals. The purpose of the society is to advance the art and science of bariatric surgery by continued encouragement of its members to: pursue investigations in both the clinic and the laboratory; interchange ideas, information and experience pertaining to bariatric surgery; promote guidelines for ethical patient selection and care; develop educational programs for physicians, paramedical persons, and lay people; and promote outcome studies and quality assurance. For more information about ASBS, please visit http://www.asbs.org online.
About Surgical Review Corporation
Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to surgical excellence. SRC's mission is to promote the delivery of surgical care with the highest levels of efficacy, efficiency, and safety possible. For more information about SRC or to download a Center of Excellence application, please visit http://www.surgicalreview.org online.