Locate COE
     

    Patient Information

    SRC administers center of excellence (COE) programs throughout the world that recognize surgeons and healthcare facilities that provide safe, high-quality surgical care. These programs are either managed on behalf of professional surgical societies or endorsed by a specialty’s medical association.

    While SRC’s heritage is in bariatric surgery, SRC now offers COE programs and patient outcomes databases to other surgical specialties like minimally invasive gynecology.

    Locate a Center of Excellence
    Designation Is Not a Guarantee
    Comments About a Patient Experience
    Insurance Coverage
    Patient Resources
    Learn More about COE Programs
    Participation in the BOLD Study (NCT01002352)

    Locate a Center of Excellence

    SRC offers patients the ability to identify surgeons and healthcare facilities that have been designated as a center of excellence. We do not refer patients to specific physicians and facilities or make recommendations on which surgical procedures are most appropriate for an individual. Locate a Center of Excellence

    Designation Is Not a Guarantee

    While the COE designation represents excellence, it does not guarantee perfection. As with any surgical procedure, there are associated risks and complications. For example, bariatric surgical care is particularly challenging because morbid obesity usually involves a myriad of other medical problems that need to be addressed. Additionally, patients must do their part by following their doctors’ orders to achieve desired outcomes.

    Comments About a Patient Experience

    Patients who wish to share their bariatric surgery experience and weight loss success or minimally invasive gynecology experience are encouraged to contact their surgeon and/or hospital administration directly. Similarly, questions regarding your medical condition or course of treatment and care should be referred to your surgeon or other healthcare provider.

    Insurance Coverage

    SRC does not handle issues related to individual healthcare coverage. These questions should be directed to your healthcare provider, insurance company and/or human resources department.

    Patients in the United States or Canada who would like to have bariatric surgery coverage added to their employer’s insurance plan should encourage their human resources department to contact Jackie Lueck Sneve (jackie NULL.sneve null@null surgicalreview NULL.org), Vice President of Strategic Alliances.

    Patient Resources

    There are many websites that address patient questions, provide information about surgical procedures and explain the benefits of a specific surgery. SRC suggests the following:

    Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery Professional Societies & Other Resources

    • Brazilian Society of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery (SBCBM) (http://www NULL.sbcb NULL.org NULL.br/index NULL.php)
    • Mexican College for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Diseases (CMCOEM) (http://www NULL.cmcoem NULL.org/)
    • Obesity & Metabolic Surgery Society of India (OSSI) (http://www NULL.obesity-india NULL.com/)
    • International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO)
      (http://www NULL.ifso NULL.com/)
    • Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) (http://www NULL.obesityaction NULL.org/)

    Minimally Invasive Gynecology

    • AAGL (http://www NULL.aagl NULL.org/)

    Learn More About Center of Excellence Programs

    Patients can learn more about what it takes for surgeons and facilities to become a center of excellence by selecting a program below:

    Bariatric & Metabolic Surgery

    Minimally Invasive Gynecology

    Participation in the BOLD Study (NCT01002352)

    Patient participation in the BOLD, SRC’s proprietary database, is integral to the success of each specialty’s COE programs. BOLD helps ensures program compliance and support outcomes-based medicine.

    As indicated on clinicaltrials.gov (http://www NULL.clinicaltrials NULL.gov/), the BOLD study is an ongoing “observational study” that does not recruit participants. More specifically, SRC does not recruit or enroll patient volunteers to undergo bariatric surgery (experimental, established or otherwise) or engage in patient-level research and analysis.

    Instead, SRC only collects data on patients who have chosen to undergo bariatric surgery at a center approved for provisional status or designation through one of the COE programs we administer. The data that SRC analyzes does not include patient-identifying information like names, medical record or social security numbers. We use this “de-identified” data to do the following:

    • Assess the mid- and long-term outcomes of bariatric surgeries
    • Analyze the relationship between these outcomes and 1) patient demographics and comorbidities, 2) clinical and surgical characteristics, and 3) preoperative, perioperative and postoperative care and treatment

    Given the type of study, these patients are not compensated for their surgical procedure or reimbursed for any other healthcare-related costs. Patients are provided a Patient Information Sheet that describes the BOLD study prior to their bariatric operations. They understand that their de-identified information will be used to develop general knowledge about optimal bariatric surgery practices.

    Note: The current BOLD observation study is focused specifically on the bariatric and metabolic specialty.