SAN ANTONIO – Foundation Surgical Hospital of San Antonio has been designated as a Blue Distinction® Center for Specialty Care.
“This designation from Blue Cross Blue Shield reflects the deep commitment our surgeons and staff have to our patients and the quality of care our programs provide,” said Bill Gilbert, CEO of Foundation Surgical Hospital of San Antonio.
To receive a Blue Distinction Center+ for Bariatric Surgery designation, a new designation added to the program this year, a healthcare facility must demonstrate success in meeting patient safety as well as bariatric-specific quality measures, including complications and readmissions, for gastric stapling and/or gastric banding procedures.
A healthcare facility must also have earned national accreditations at both the facility level and the bariatric care-specific level, as well as demonstrate better cost efficiency relative to its peers.
Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S., which provides a significant opportunity to improve quality and efficiency within the healthcare system. There were 179,000 bariatric surgeries performed in 2013, according to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the average cost is more than $28,000 per episode, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Since 2006, the Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program has helped patients find quality providers for their specialty care needs in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacements, spine surgery, and transplants while encouraging healthcare professionals to improve the care they deliver.
Foundation Surgical Hospital of San Antonio is a 20 bed private suite facility with four state-of-the-art operating suites located in the South Texas Medical Center of San Antonio. Since opening its doors in 2007, their experienced team of professionals has been dedicated to providing San Antonio with the highest level of care. Their 4-to-1 patient-to-nurse ratio ensures individualized attention and attentive care for every patient.