Doctors Hospital of Manteca Recognized for Higher Quality in Bariatric Surgery

Doctors Hospital of Manteca has been recognized with a Blue Distinction® Center+ for Bariatric Surgery designation as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show expertise in delivering improved patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community.

To receive a Blue Distinction Center+ for Bariatric Surgery designation, a healthcare facility must demonstrate success in meeting patient safety measures as well as bariatric-specific quality measures, including complication and readmission rate for laparoscopic procedures in sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass and duodenal switch. A healthcare facility must also be nationally accredited at both the facility and bariatric program-specific levels, as well as demonstrated cost-efficiency compared to its peers.

Quality is key. Only those healthcare facilities that first meet Blue Distinction’s nationally-established, objective quality measures will be considered for designation as a Blue Distinction Center.

“We are proud to be nationally recognized for the quality of care we provide for our surgical weight loss patients,” said Brandon May, CEO of Doctors Hospital of Manteca. “Our staff has worked diligently to receive these recognitions. We are committed to providing high-quality care for our patients in Manteca and surrounding communities.”

Doctors Hospital of Manteca has also been re-accredited as a Comprehensive 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 ensure that bariatric surgical patients receive a multidisciplinary program, not just a surgical procedure, which improves patient outcomes and long-term success. The accredited hospital offers preoperative and postoperative care designed specifically for their severely obese patients.

Doctors Hospital of Manteca’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 hospital.

To earn the MBSAQIP designation, Doctors Hospital of Manteca met essential criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure and protocols for care, ensuring its ability to support patients with severe obesity. The hospital also participates in a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of its processes and outcomes, identifying opportunities for continuous quality improvement.

Hospitals seeking MBSAQIP Accreditation undergo an extensive site visit by an experienced bariatric surgeon, who reviews their structure, process and clinical outcomes data. Hospitals 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 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.

Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S., which provides significant opportunity to improve quality within the healthcare system. There were 196,000 bariatric surgeries performed in 2015, according to the ASMBS.