Riverside Community Hospital has been designated as a Center of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Riverside, CA — Riverside Community Hospital (RCH) today announced that it has been designated as a Center of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (COEMBS) by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC). The COEMBS designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.
The SRC promotes the delivery of bariatric surgical care with the highest levels of efficacy, efficiency, and patient safety. To qualify as a Center of Excellence, the surgeon and hospital must meet stringent requirements. Surgeons must complete at least 50 bariatric surgeries per year with a minimum lifetime experience of 125 surgeries.
Since the Center for Surgical Weight Loss opened at Riverside Community Hospital in 2011, under the direction of John Coon, MD, it has grown to include a nurse coordinator, several dietitians, physical therapists and several key departments to ensure comprehensive, coordinated care.
"Riverside Community Hospital is very proud to achieve this recognition as a Center of Excellence," said Patrick Brilliant, Chief Executive Officer. "Our team members worked very hard to prepare for the extensive onsite review. Our Bariatric Coordinator, Latanya Davidson-Wilson and program Director Dr. John Coon, did an extraordinary job building a program that demonstrates excellence and a higher level of care for our bariatric patients. We know that our patients have a choice when it comes to their healthcare. This recognition recognizes the superior care and outstanding patient experience one can expect from our Riverside Community Hospital team."
"As a Center of Excellence, patients are able to identify hospitals and facilities that deliver the highest quality of care," said John Coon, MD, Program Director of the Center for Surgical Weight Loss at Riverside Community Hospital. "I am privileged to be a part of an organization that holds quality care, patient safety and excellence as the utmost importance. We have a good team who truly does care about the well-being and overall satisfaction of the patient"
To earn a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation, Riverside Community Hospital's Center for Surgical Weight Loss Program underwent a site inspection during which all aspects of the program's surgical processes were closely examined and data on health outcomes was collected. Riverside Community Hospital and other centers receiving the Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation agree to continue to share information on clinical pathways, protocols and outcomes data to maintain their designation.
Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), an organization dedicated to pursuing surgical excellence, formulates and establishes the rigorous standards with which Riverside Community Hospital and other Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence must comply. They thoroughly inspect and evaluate each candidate for designation, and upon review, recommend approval of designation for those physicians and facilities whose practices and outcomes meet the stringent demands set forth by SRC.
Obesity has become a significant national health issue, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that 66 percent of all U.S. adults are overweight or obese. Morbid obesity is closely correlated with a number of serious conditions that severely undermine the health of overweight patients, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Bariatric surgery, when performed correctly, can help patients of size manage these conditions. By definition, surgeons with SOEMBS (Surgeon of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery) designation, practice only top-quality care, ensuring efficacy of the procedure with each patient.
As a pioneering organization, designating Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence based on top quality care and efficacious outcomes, SRC is working to align the common interests of patients, surgeons, hospitals and insurers, all of whom suffer when complications develop after surgical care.
About Surgical Review Corporation
Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) is an independent, nonprofit organization governed by industry stakeholders and dedicated to advancing the safety, efficacy and efficiency of surgical care worldwide. Initially focused on bariatric and metabolic surgery, SRC has emerged as the leading administrator of Center of Excellence and Surgeon of Excellence programs for surgical specialties such as minimally invasive gynecology, hernia surgery and robotic surgery. The organization manages programs on behalf of top medical societies around the world, setting a global standard for excellence. To support program compliance and quality improvement in patient care, SRC developed BOLD, a longitudinal outcomes database. BOLD is the world's largest repository of clinical patient data for the bariatric surgery specialty. For more information, visit www.surgicalreview.org.
About Riverside Community Hospital
Founded in 1901, Riverside Community Hospital is a 373 licensed bed, full-service acute care hospital in the heart of the Inland Empire. With over 500 physicians on staff, representing over 200 specialties and over 1,900 employees, Riverside Community Hospital is an Inland Empire leader in providing advanced, comprehensive health care to the Inland region. RCH houses the largest Emergency Room and Trauma Center in the Inland Empire at 50 beds with an average wait time of only 22 minutes. RCH is one of Riverside County's only STEMI (heart attack) receiving centers and is a fully accredited Chest Pain Center. Centers of Excellence include the HeartCare Institute, offering invasive and non-invasive cardiac procedures, the Transplant Program and a Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. RCH recently embarked on a major campus expansion project that included a brand new 5-level state-of-the-art parking garage adding 1,060 new parking spaces, a 3-story Medical Office Building, and a new 7-story patient tower with 105 private patient rooms. When completed, RCH will house 478 licensed beds.