Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Delaware has recognized Nanticoke Weight Loss & General Surgery, Seaford, with a Blue Distinction Center for Bariatric Surgery designation as part of the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program.
Blue Distinction Centers are nationally designated hospitals that show expertise in delivering improved patient safety and better health outcomes, based on objective measures that were developed with input from the medical community, a release stated.
In 2017, the Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery program expanded to include not only the type of service provided but also the site of care. Healthcare facilities were evaluated as either a comprehensive center or as an ambulatory surgery center.
Bariatric surgeries are among the most common elective surgeries in the U.S., which provides significant opportunity to improve quality of the healthcare system. There were 196,000 bariatric surgeries performed in 2015, according to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), and the average cost is more than $28,000 per episode, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
It is estimated that nearly 36.5 percent of U.S. adults and 17 percent of youth are obese and impacted by obesity-related health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The estimated annual health care costs of obesity-related conditions are nearly $210 billion per year in the U.S., according to the Journal of Health Economics. On average, health care costs were reduced by 29 percent within five years following bariatric surgery, due to the reduction or elimination of obesity-related conditions, according to ASMBS.
BCBS companies across the nation have recognized more than 550 health care facilities as Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery. Healthcare facilities recognized with this designation are assessed using a combination of publicly available quality information and cost measures derived from BCBS companies’ medical claims, the release noted.
