Mercy Health Hospitals Achieve National Bariatric Accreditation

Patients seeking surgical treatment for severe obesity and its related conditions have high-quality choices for receiving treatment at a nationally accredited program that meets the highest standards for patient safety and quality of care in the greater Cincinnati area.

Mercy Health - Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality, compassionate care in your neighborhood through its care network, announces that its bariatric surgery centers at Mercy Health – Fairfield Hospital and The Jewish Hospital - Mercy Health have been accredited as Comprehensive Centers 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 approach, which improves patient outcomes and long-term success. Mercy Health’s accredited centers offer preoperative and postoperative care designed specifically for their severely obese patients.

“Mercy Health’s commitment to quality care begins with appropriately trained staff and surgeons who participate in meetings throughout the year to review our outcomes,” said Mohamed Dahman, MD, medical director of Mercy Health - Weight Management Solutions. “We seek continuous improvement to enhance the structure, process and outcomes of our centers for the benefit of our patients.”

To earn the MBSAQIP designation, Fairfield Hospital and The Jewish Hospital met essential criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure and protocols for care, ensuring their ability to support patients with severe obesity. The centers also participate in a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of their 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 centers’ structure, process and clinical outcomes data. Centers are awarded a specific designation depending on how many patients they serve annually and the type of procedures they provide.

In the United States, around 15.5 million people suffer from severe obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health, 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 II 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 severe 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.

For further information about Mercy Health - Weight Management Solutions and how it can help you, please call 513-682-6980 or visit mercyhealthyweight.com.

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*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.