WEIGHT LOSS CENTER EARNS NATIONAL ACCREDITATION FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY
Stony Brook University Hospital Meets Quality Standards Established by the American College of Surgeons
STONY BROOK, November 8, 2013 — Today, the Stony Brook Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center was informed that it has been fully accredited by the Bariatric Surgery Center Network (BSCN) Accreditation Program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The accreditation demonstrates our center's commitment to delivering the highest-quality care for its bariatric surgery patients.
To earn the accreditation, Stony Brook University Hospital met the essential criteria that ensure its ability to support a bariatric surgical care program and the institutional performance requirements outlined by the BSCN Accreditation Standards.
Accredited bariatric surgery centers provide both the hospital resources necessary for optimal care of morbidly obese patients and the support and resources necessary to address the entire spectrum of care and needs of bariatric patients, both pre- and post-operatively.
"We are very pleased to receive accreditation from the American College of Surgeons," says Aurora D. Pryor, MD, professor of surgery, chief of general surgery, and director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center. "They were very impressed with our entire staff and the Stony Brook facilities. Our group should be commended for their team effort and attention to detail as acknowledged by the surveyor."
Dr. Pryor emphasizes, "Accreditation is an important way for patients to verify that a practice has access to all the key resources necessary for optimal care, and we are proud to be acknowledged here for our excellence at Stony Brook Medicine."
Accreditation by the American College of Surgeons is an important way to verify that a hospital has everything needed for optimal care of bariatric surgery patients — and ours does!
Bariatric surgery centers that are accredited under ACS BSCN program standards are part of the Metabolic Bariatric Surgery Accreditation Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) administered by the American College of Surgeons. In March 2012, the ACS and the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery announced plans to combine their respective national bariatric surgery accreditation programs into a single unified program to achieve one national accreditation standard for bariatric surgery centers. This transition is now in process.
ACS BSCN accreditation is awarded in categories, each with its own criteria that must be met. Facilities undergo a site visit by an experienced bariatric surgeon, who reviews the facilities' structure, process, and data quality. Because optimal surgical care requires documentation using reliable outcomes measures, accredited bariatric surgery centers are required to report their outcomes data to the MBSAQIP Data Registry Platform.
In the United States, more than 15 million people suffer from severe obesity, and the numbers continue to increase. Obesity increases the risks of morbidity and mortality because of the diseases and conditions that are commonly associated with it, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease, among other health risks. At present, weight loss surgery provides the only effective, lasting relief from severe obesity.
Therefore, the ACS believes it is of utmost importance to extend its quality initiatives to accrediting bariatric surgery centers so that it can assist the public in identifying those facilities that provide optimal surgical care for patients who undergo this surgical procedure.
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical education and practice, and to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient. Its achievements have placed it at the forefront of American surgery, and have made the college an important advocate for all surgical patients. With more than 79,000 members, the college is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
For more information about the Stony Brook Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center, call Catherine Tuppo, PT, program coordinator, at 631-444-BARI (2274).