Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative

Contact:

Rozanne Darland
CQI Administrator

313-448-5573
rdarland@bcbsm.com

Severe obesity, commonly defined as weight that is at least 100 pounds more than the ideal for age and height, is the second-leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Some 18 million people in the United States suffer from severe obesity. With this condition sharply on the rise in the United States, the number of weight-loss procedures has also jumped, from 16,000 in the early 1990s to 180,000 in 2005, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative (MBSC) was formed in June 2005 to improve the quality of care for patients undergoing bariatric surgery in the state of Michigan. To accomplish this goal, BCBSM, University of Michigan Health System, and hospitals performing bariatric surgery in Michigan have agreed to collaborate to develop and implement a regional bariatric surgery registry and continuous quality improvement program. Three times per year the group meets to examine these data and to design and implement changes in care that result in better outcomes for bariatric patients. The project is funded by Blue Cross and coordinated by the Michigan Surgical Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, or M-SCORE, at the University of Michigan.

Goals

Improve the quality of care for patients undergoing bariatric surgery.
Reduce surgical complications.

Results

Overall complication rates have decreased by 24 percent.
Visits to emergency rooms following surgery have declined by 31 percent.