Centers of Excellence
How can the general consumer make sense of complex clinical quality data and use it to help them make a decision about where to go for a particular medical or surgical procedure?
The Blue Distinction Centers of Specialty Care/Centers of Excellence, launched in 1996 with the Cardiac program, was developed to recognize hospitals that met strict criteria for rigorous quality standards. The Blue Distinction Center and Center of Excellence designation signify to consumers that a hospital has achieved higher quality with fewer complications and deaths in the clinical area for which it is designated.
Each Center of Excellence designation requires a hospital meet a specific set of criteria, incorporating years of experience and volume levels; continuous improvement standards; clinical quality standards for outcomes, complications and costs; and training/expertise of staff performing the procedures.
Centers of Excellence (COE) designation has been established for many clinical areas including cardiac care, low back pain and bariatric surgery.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan also works with the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association's Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care program, a COE program that designates hospitals meeting strict quality criteria in the following specialties:
- Complex and rare cancers
- Centers for transplant
- Cardiac care
- Bariatric surgery
To learn more about the Blue Distinction program, visit www.bcbs.com/innovations/bluedistinction.
For more information, contact:
Sandy Reoma,
Phone: (248) 448-8097
sreoma@bcbsm.com