Mayo Clinic Health System achieves national accreditation for bariatric surgery program
Mankato Times
MANKATO, MINN. — Patients seeking surgical treatment for obesity and its related conditions have a high-quality choice at a nationally accredited program that meets the highest standards for patient safety and quality of care.
Mayo Clinic Health System announced its bariatric surgical center has been accredited as a Low Acuity Center under the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), a joint program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).
The MBSAQIP Standards, outlined in the Resources for Optimal Care of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Patient 2014, ensure that bariatric surgical patients receive a multidisciplinary program, not just a surgical procedure, which improves patient outcomes and long-term success. The accredited center offers pre-operative and post-operative care designed specifically for patients who suffer from obesity.
“Our local Mayo Clinic bariatric surgery team is honored to have achieved national accreditation,” says Megan Gilmore, M.D., bariatric surgeon at Mayo Clinic Health System. “We built this program to meet the highest standards of care, and the official recognition from MBSAQIP is validation of our ongoing efforts, quality and patient outcomes.”
Mayo Clinic Health System’s commitment to quality care begins with appropriately trained staff and the leadership surgeons who participate in meetings throughout the year to review its outcomes. They seek continuous improvement to enhance the structure, process and outcomes of the center.
To earn the MBSAQIP designation, Mayo Clinic Health System met essential criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure and protocols for care, ensuring its ability to support patients with obesity. The center also participates in a national data registry that yields semi-annual reports on the quality of its processes and outcomes, identifying opportunities for continuous quality improvement. The standards are specified in the MBSAQIP Resources for Optimal Care of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Patient 2014, published by the ACS and ASMBS.
After submitting an application, centers seeking MBSAQIP Accreditation undergo an extensive site visit by an experienced bariatric surgeon, who reviews the center’s structure, process and clinical outcomes data. Centers are awarded a specific designation depending on how many patients it serves annually, the type of procedures it provides and whether it provides care for patients under age 18.
In the United States, around 15.5 million people suffer from obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health, and the numbers continue to rise. 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. Metabolic and bariatric surgical procedures have proven to be effective in the reduction of comorbid conditions related to obesity.* Working with ASMBS, the ACS expanded this quality program for bariatric surgery centers so that it can assist bariatric patients in identifying those centers that provide optimal surgical care.
*Buchwald H, Avidor Y, Braunwald E, et al. Bariatric Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA. 2004;292(14):1724-1737. DOI:10.1001/jama.292.14.1724.
Mayo Clinic Health System consists of clinics, hospitals and other health care facilities that serve the health care needs of people in more than 60 communities in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The community-based providers, paired with the resources and expertise of Mayo Clinic, enable patients in the region to receive the highest-quality health care close to home.