Letter of Invitation to Enroll in the Bariatric Surgery Center Network Accreditation Program

May 20, 2005

To: Directors of Bariatric Surgery Programs

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) invites your institution to enroll in the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Accreditation Program. For many years the ACS has led our nation's efforts to ensure safe and effective treatment of all patients requiring surgical care. For example, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations evolved from the ACS Committee on Hospital Standards. The ACS and its Committee on Trauma verify 197 trauma centers. The ACS and the Commission on Cancer currently approve 1,425 Cancer Centers in our country. These important programs receive national and international recognition for their role in setting standards to ensure safe and effective surgical care.

On February 12, 2005, the ACS Board of Regents voted unanimously to expand the ACS standard setting and accreditation efforts into additional disciplines. Because severe obesity has reached epidemic proportions and because weight-reduction surgery provides the only effective treatment for severe obesity, the Regents decided to give highest priority to the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Accreditation Program. Since then, we have reviewed the available information, consulted with experts in the field of bariatric surgery, listened to ACS leadership, developed standards, defined necessary resources, organized the means to collect data, and organized the processes for conducting site visits to accredit hospitals and outpatient facilities in an ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Network. In addition, the ACS assembled a team to manage and lead this project.

The ACS will contract with hospitals and outpatient facilities that agree to implement the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center standards. Centers will report outcome data on all bariatric surgery patients, whenever possible using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). For centers not enrolled in the ACS NSQIP the ACS will provide an alternate data management resource. The ACS Web site serves as a resource for participants in the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center program. This site contains the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Manual, as well as an application form and other program documents. Please read the manual carefully. If you decide to enroll in this program, please discuss the program with your facility's chief executive officer (CEO). If you wish to participate, please complete and submit the Application Form along with a letter of support from your facility's CEO.

If your hospital meets the program's criteria and the ACS Bariatric Advisory Committee approves your application, we will send a Participation Agreement for your signature. When we receive your signed Participation Agreement and enrollment fee of $10,000, you will become a provisional member of the program. Within six months of Provisional Membership, your facility will undergo a site visit. After a favorable review of your site visit report, you will receive full accreditation. To maintain full accreditation through the ACS Bariatric Surgery Center Program, your facility will complete an annual status report (five-page document similar to the enrollment application) and undergo a site visit every three years. Your facility will be required to pay $10,000 for the tri-annual site review.

We sincerely hope that you and your institution will choose to participate in this important program, which is intended and designed to support bariatric surgery with organized, rigorous, continuous quality improvement. If you have questions or want more details about this program, please contact the ACS Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care at BSCN@facs.org.

R. Scott Jones, MD, FACS
Director
Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care
American College of Surgeons

Revised February 24, 2006 

Bariatric Surgery Center Network Program

Continuous Quality Improvement