Anthem Designated BlueDistinction Center Bariatric Surgery. Portsmouth Hospital is designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Bariatric Surgery by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, an independent licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
Portsmouth, NH – Portsmouth Regional Hospital announced that its designation as an Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire as a Blue Distinction® Center for Bariatric Surgery was recently renewed, as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program. Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated healthcare facilities that show a commitment to delivering high quality patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community and leading accreditation and quality organizations.
The Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery program provides a full range of bariatric surgery care, including surgical care, post-operative care, outpatient follow-up care, and patient education.
“The Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery designation confirms what our bariatric team is committed to each and every day – superior quality patient safety for our surgical weight loss patients,” stated Dean Carucci, chief executive officer of Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
To receive a Blue Distinction Centers 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 adjustable gastric band. All designated facilities must also be nationally accredited at both the facility and bariatric program-specific levels.
Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S. — with more than 252,000 bariatric surgeries performed in 2018 based on a report from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).[1] Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 42.7 percent of U.S. adults and 18.5 percent of youth are obese and are impacted by obesity-related health conditions.[2] With obesity reaching epidemic levels among U.S. adults, a significant opportunity exists to improve quality care for bariatric surgeries within the national healthcare system.
The annual healthcare spend on obesity and obesity-related conditions is expected to rise by 2030, if the rate of obesity in the U.S. continues to climb.3 Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severely obese patients because it allows for substantial, sustained weight loss, which leads to, improves, or resolves obesity-related co-morbidities like type 2 diabetes. On average, healthcare costs were reduced by 29 percent within five years following bariatric surgery, due to the reduction or elimination of obesity-related conditions, based on findings by ASMBS.
“Quality is foundational to everything we do at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to provide a better healthcare experience for our members,” said Lisa Guertin, president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in New Hampshire. “We congratulate Portsmouth Regional Hospital for achieving this designation and are proud to work with them to help people on the Seacoast improve their health outcomes through the Blue Distinction Specialty Care Program.”
Since 2006, the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program has helped patients find quality specialty care in the areas of bariatric surgery, cancer care, cardiac care, cellular immunotherapy, fertility care, gene therapy, knee and hip replacement, maternity care, spine surgery, substance use treatment and recovery, and transplants, while encouraging healthcare professionals to improve the care they deliver. Research shows that, compared to other healthcare facilities, those designated as Blue Distinction Centers demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients.
[1] American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS)
[2] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
3 Wang, Y. C., McPherson, K., Marsh, T., Gortmaker, S. L., & Brown, M. (2011). Health and economic burden of the projected obesity trends in the USA and the UK. Lancet (London, England), 378(9793), 815–825.