American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery | Archive

ACS BSCN & ASMBS BSCOE – Transition FAQs

April 10, 2012
FAQ topics include: General, Data Submission, Fees, Applications, Standards, and Site Inspections...

A presentation by: Robin Blackstone, MD, FACS, FASMBS President, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery...

A presentation by: Bruce M. Wolfe, MD Professor of Surgery Oregon Health and Science University...

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Change – A Message from our President

Throughout the last few weeks, many of you witnessed a remarkable and profound change in the direction the society is taking with our quality program. We are moving away from using the SRC as the administrator of our program and crafting a long-term unified program with the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Issues beyond our control prompted a more rapid transition than the Executive Committee had planned; however, I assure you that the society is 100 percent focused and on target, and the leadership is proactively doing everything in its power to ensure a strong stable future for our BSCOE...

Part 5 - Programs currently in either the ASMBS BSCOE or ACS BSN Level 1 networks are grandfathered into the new program for the first year. Based on the data analyzed by Drs. Justin Dimick and John Birkmeyer, national leaders in surgical outcomes research and quality initiatives, we know that a small number of current programs may not actually qualify using the composite measure of quality, however because all programs/surgeons qualified under the previous volume standard they will be given one year to bring themselves into compliance. Programs will be able to use the current data in their existing reporting...

Part 4 - The field of bariatric surgery continues to grow, attracting surgeons with expertise in laparoscopic, gastrointestinal and bariatric surgery. With the implicit goal of assuring that surgeons have met minimum criteria to safely perform bariatric surgery, three national surgery associations (American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Society for American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES)) independently created credentialing guidelines to guide hospitals and institutions in the credentialing process for bariatric surgery. The guidelines were thoughtfully written to assist local credentialing committees in the evaluation of an applicant’s qualifications and were...

Proposal for a New Quality Matrix

Part 3 - The existing ASMBS BSCOE has 10 requirements for achieving full approval. The new proposed ASMBS BSCOE/BQIP program will focus on continuous quality improvement as well as an outcome based composite quality measure. A new quality matrix needs to be implemented that maximizes the autonomy to the surgeons/programs to evaluate their data and solve problems on the local level with the resources of their own facility and practice. ...

Part 2 - Throughout the history of surgical intervention, surgeons have been keenly interested in improving patient safety. The ASMBS has historically focused its quality measurement efforts on accreditation and ensuring that bariatric surgery is performed in safe/appropriate settings. This function remains paramount in importance, and ASMBS is committed to using measures that best reflect hospital outcomes and true quality. In addition, ASMBS leadership recognizes the need for quality measurement to support not just accreditation, but quality improvement in all settings where bariatric surgery is delivered....