In early August, the expert panel on weight-loss surgery released its recommendations.

Convened by the Department of Public Health's Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction, the 24-member panel and its nine task groups consisted of leading authorities on obesity treatment, patient safety, nutrition, medical practice, managed care, pediatrics, nursing and ethics, and a consumer representative. All told, the panel received input from personnel representing 80 percent of the sites performing weight-loss surgery in the Commonwealth.

Among the panel's 100-plus evidence-based recommendations are establishment of volume-based credentialing for surgeons and facilities; defined patient-selection criteria and a multidisciplinary approach to patient evaluation and treatment; more effective patient-education programs; preanesthesia evaluations
that account for obesity-specific risks; a statewide weight-loss surgery data registry to aid future research; and updated coding and reimbursement policies.

"The panel worked diligently to establish sound recommendations that will improve the quality of care for bariatric surgery patients in Massachusetts and across the nation," said MMS President-Elect and Panel Chair Alan Harvey, M.D., M.B.A., director of quality assurance and quality improvement in the department of anesthesiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

To read the panel's full Executive Report, log on to www.mass.gov/dph/betsylehman/index.htm.

Panel members will discuss their findings during an October 8 MMS conference on fad diets and weight-loss surgery.

- Robyn Alie

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