News Releases
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 14, 2011
First Chilean Hospital and Surgeons Awarded
International Center of Excellence for Bariatric Surgery Designation
Designees Join SRC’s Global Network of Providers Recognized for High-Quality Patient Care
RALEIGH, NC (April 14, 2011) – Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), an independent, nonprofit organization that advances the safety, efficacy and efficiency of bariatric and metabolic surgery, today announced the first hospital and surgeons to achieve the International Center of Excellence for Bariatric SurgeryTM (ICETM) designation in Chile. The Hospital Clínico de la Universidad Católica de Chile (UC), located in Santiago, and four bariatric surgeons on the Red Salud UC faculty successfully completed the rigorous ICE review and site inspection process required for designation.
SRC created the ICE program to ensure that the safest, highest quality care is delivered to bariatric surgery patients, regardless of where they elect to have their procedure performed. ICE establishes guidelines and criteria for evaluating bariatric surgery programs around the world and employs a systematic approach to ensure these standards are upheld. SRC awards ICE designation to individual surgeons and the hospital where they perform bariatric procedures.
Under the leadership of Dr. Camilo Boza Wilson, coordinator of minimally invasive surgery, Hospital Clínico UC provides a multidisciplinary approach to care that helps patients succeed in all areas of their lives impacted by obesity and post-surgical weight loss.
“Chile has one of the highest percentages of people who are overweight or obese in Latin America, which means the quality of life for the majority of our citizens is threatened,” said Dr. Boza. “Earning this designation is an honor and took the combined efforts of everyone on our team to achieve. Patients from around the country and the rest of the world will benefit from our success.”
A total of four surgeons at Hospital Clínico UC earned the ICE designation. Dr. Boza is an assistant professor and serves on SRC’s International Bariatric Surgery Review Committee (IBSRC) for the Latin American region. Dr. Gustavo Perez Blanco is chief of the hospital’s obesity surgery center and Drs. Fernando Crovari Eulufi and Ricardo Funke Hinojosa are both assistant professors.
“Earning designation in the ICE program is not a simple task,” said Dr. Raul Rosenthal, Chairman of the IBSRC and a bariatric surgeon at Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida. “It is a challenging program that demands the highest level of excellence in bariatric surgery and patient care. Congratulations to Hospital Clínico UC and its bariatric team for being the first in Chile to achieve this important distinction.”
The center in Chile is part of an international network of more than 1,100 surgeons and 600 hospitals and freestanding outpatient facilities participating in a center of excellence program that SRC administers. Surgeons and hospitals performing bariatric surgery around the world can initiate their involvement with the ICE program by registering on the SRC website.
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 a leading administrator of center of excellence programs for surgical specialties. The organization manages programs on behalf of top medical societies around the world, setting a global standard for excellence. To support center of excellence program compliance and quality improvement in patient care, SRC developed BOLD, a longitudinal outcomes database. BOLD is now the world’s largest repository of clinical patient data for the bariatric surgery specialty. For more information, visit www.surgicalreview.org.
Contact
Alyssa Willard
Manager, Media and Communications
919.792.1717
alyssa.willard@surgicalreview.org (alyssa NULL.willard null@null surgicalreview NULL.org)