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Obesity is a critical health issue across the globe. In 2005, more than two billion adults were obese or overweight and the World Health Organization projects that this number will reach three billion by 2015. Previously considered an issue restricted to high-income countries, obesity is now dramatically increasing in low- and middle-income countries.
The rapidly growing obese population is contributing greatly to healthcare costs and utilization worldwide. Obesity costs are almost entirely a result of expenses generated from treating the diseases that obesity promotes, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, cancer and cardiopulmonary failure. In the US alone, the medical costs of obesity are currently estimated at $147 billion a year, doubling in less than a decade and accounting for nearly 10% of the nation's annual medical expenditures.
Bariatric surgery is a proven intervention for the morbidly obese and recognized for its ability to save lives, providing remission not only of obesity, but a number of chronic diseases/comorbidities. By resolving these comorbidities, bariatric surgery can dramatically reduce the primary costs of obesity.
Although the first bariatric surgery was performed in 1954, US guidelines for the surgical treatment of morbid obesity were not established until 1991 when the National Institutes of Health convened a Consensus Development Conference on surgery for obesity. By 2003, bariatric surgeries exceeded the 100,000 mark, yet outcomes were inconsistent. The industry lacked consensus on patient selection, procedure methods and optimal surgical approach — due, in part, to the lack of standardized research to evaluate the risks and benefits of bariatric surgery and provide guidance on patient selection criteria.
The steady rise in the number of bariatric surgery operations has also mandated the development of benchmarks for quality and patient safety. Identifying these benchmarks, with the goal of establishing guidelines for best clinical practice, requires a broad collection of clinical data on a large population of patients.
The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) identified the need to recognize surgeons and facilities that provide superior bariatric surgery patient care and promote optimal levels of performance. The ASMBS founded Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) in 2003 to advance the safety, efficacy and efficiency of bariatric and metabolic surgical care.
To achieve this objective, SRC developed and administers best-in-class bariatric surgery center of excellence programs around the globe and the world’s largest clinical bariatric surgery patient database.
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