Fairview Park Hospital was named among the top 101 hospitals in the nation for bariatric surgery by Money.com, in partnership with The Leapfrog Group. The hospitals that earned this distinction achieve Leapfrog's standards for safety.
Patients who have bariatric surgery performed at a hospital and by a surgeon that have more experience have better, more positive outcomes — including lower mortality rates, lower complication rates, and a shorter length of stay at the hospital.
“This recognition is very timely for the growth our hospital is seeing in our bariatric program. We have an excellent medical staff of board-certified bariatric surgeons, Dr. Michael Blaney and Dr. Francisco Jacome, who have established a strong and successful program. We are also very excited to be adding Dr. Eric Chung, another experienced bariatric surgeon. He joined our community February 27, 2023, and is very enthusiastic about joining the Fairview team”, commented Donald R. Avery, FACHE, President and CEO of Fairview Park Hospital. “This designation shows the dedication we have to excellence in performance when it comes to our volume and our safety grades regarding bariatric surgery, and we are excited to continue serving patients and enriching lives through weight loss surgery.”
Hospitals on this list meet Leapfrog standards for the number of bariatric procedures performed at the hospital and by individual surgeons. The hospitals also use a safe surgery checklist, prevent healthcare-associated infections, and perform well on the bi-annual Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, which assigns a letter grade to all general acute care hospitals in the U.S. based on how well they protect patients from preventable harm.
"This new list features one-of-a-kind selections that gives readers an excellent look at one of the most difficult surgeries to perform," says Money's Executive Editor Mike Ayers. “We are proud to honor hospitals like Fairview Park Hospital with this distinction.”
"Bariatric surgery is a complex procedure that over half a million people undergo annually across the world. Certain hospitals are safer than others for this procedure, and thanks to Money, patients have important data to make an informed decision," said The Leapfrog Group President and CEO Leah Binder.