December 9, 2005 – Greater Baltimore Medical Center and its Comprehensive Obesity Management Program (COMP), under the medical direction of Babak Moeinolmolki, M.D., has been named an American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) Center of Excellence. This designation recognizes programs that are comprehensive in nature and demonstrate a track record of positive outcomes in bariatric surgery.
To earn the Center of Excellence designation, GBMC and COMP had to document at least 125 bariatric surgery cases in a 12-month period, and underwent a two-staged application process and an extensive site inspection during which all aspects of the program’s clinical and surgical processes were closely examined and data on health outcomes were collected. ASMBS Center of Excellence designation indicates that this program has met rigorous criteria for service standards and follows the best practices as defined by experts in the field of bariatric surgery.
According to a July 2005 study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of bariatric surgeries in the United States more than quadrupled between 1998 and 2002 – from nearly 13,400 procedures to more than 71,700. Faced with clinical evidence that the most experienced and best-run bariatric surgery programs have the lowest rates of complications, the ASMBS Centers of Excellence program was created to recognize bariatric surgery centers that perform well and to help surgeons and hospitals continue to improve the quality and safety of care.
The ASMBS standards emphasize a multi-disciplinary team approach to caring for bariatric patients. In addition to a specially-trained clinical staff (surgeon, operating room nurses, nurse practitioner and nutritionist), COMP offers exercise and wellness programs, extensive patient education via pre- and post- operation support groups, psychiatric consultation, pulmonary consultation and sleep studies.
GBMC opened its COMP program in February 2004 and to date has completed more than 400 laparoscopic gastric bypass and laparoscopic gastric banding procedures.
