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Four Rochester hospitals have been newly designated as Blue Distinction Centers
Excellus BlueCross BlueShield has designated Unity, Rochester General and Highland hospitals as Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement and Rochester General and Strong Memorial hospitals as Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery.
“The Blue Distinction designation is one more tool to help consumers make informed decisions about their health,” said Martin Lustick, M.D., senior vice president and corporate medical director at Excellus BCBS. “Consumers are increasingly asking about this kind of information, especially when it comes to which medical facilities have met rigorous quality measurements for certain kinds of care.”
Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery and Knee and Hip Replacement are part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s expansion of its Blue Distinction® designation.
The selection criteria used to evaluate facilities were developed with input from a panel of expert physicians. To be designated as a Blue Distinction Center for Spine Surgery and a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement, the following types of criteria were evaluated. More information on selection criteria is available on www.bcbs.com:
- Established acute care inpatient facility, including intensive care, emergency care, and a full range of patient support services with full accreditation by a CMS-deemed national accreditation organization
- Experience and training of program surgeons, including case volume
- Quality management programs, including surgical checklists as well as tracking and evaluation of clinical outcomes and process of care
- Multi-disciplinary clinical pathways and teams to coordinate and streamline care, including transitions of care
- Shared decision making and preoperative patient education
The Blue Distinction designation is awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality healthcare in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacement, spine surgery and transplants. The program is part of The Blues® efforts to collaborate with physicians and medical facilities to improve the overall quality and safety of specialty care.
The additional Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery and Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement designations will bring the nation’s number of Blue Distinction designations to more than 1,600—and this number is expected to increase in the coming years.
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