The Pipeline

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Does bariatric surgery actually reduce health care costs?

on August 22, 2012  |  Permalink  | Comments (1)

Topics: Surgery, Service Lines, Strategy Development, Planning, Strategy, Technology Assessment, Bariatric

Charlotte Tsui

Perhaps not. This was the answer that a group of researchers recently arrived at after studying a group of surgical and non-surgical weight loss patients from 12 Veterans Affairs medical centers.

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Does bariatric surgery actually reduce health care costs?

New recommendations for HRT create additional patient confusion

on July 10, 2012  |  Permalink

Topics: Women's Services, Service Lines, Program Infrastructure, Business Development, Strategy, Strategy Development, Planning, Strategic Alignment, Workforce

Christopher Canary

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently released recommendations against the use of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women for the prevention of chronic disease. The May recommendation, released to help guide clinicians and their patients, was an update to previously released recommendations on the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

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New recommendations for HRT create additional patient confusion

SAGES roundup: ASMBS and ACS consolidating bariatric surgery accreditation

on March 14, 2012  |  Permalink

Topics: Bariatric, Service Lines, Surgery, Strategy Development, Planning, Strategy

Charlotte Tsui

At SAGES this past weekend, Dr. Robin Blackstone, President of American Society of Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), announced the consolidation of ASMBS’s bariatric surgery accreditation program with that of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).  

For many years now, ASMBS and ACS have been operating as parallel but separate bariatric surgery accreditation organizations, with ASMBS labeled as BSCOE (Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence) and ACS as the Bariatric Surgery Center Network (BSCN). Although ASMBS’s COE program has gained more traction and represents 458 hospital participants compared to ACS BCN’s 137, the existence of the two separate governing bodies—each with its own set of accreditation standards—often causes confusion. This recent decision is a natural step given the synergies between the two organizations and the overlapping goals of their respective accreditation programs.

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SAGES roundup: ASMBS and ACS consolidating bariatric surgery accreditation