Center of Excellence

Call him and ask for a physical copy of his most recent certification.  Or contact whoever issues the COE certificats and check with them directly.  Websites aren't always kept up-to-date.

I seem to recall asking my surgeon about the COE accreditation.  There are a bunch of hoops they have to jump through, plus they have to pay a huge fee to receive the distinction.  When I had surgery, his office was a COE.  I just checked his website and there is no COE reference.

Like Julie said, it may be a matter of their literature not being current.  What was important to me was that the hospital where I had surgery was a COE.

It shouldn't always be a deal breaker.  As long as you do your research and ask about his mortality rates, leak rates, success rates, etc., a good surgeon may not always care about the COE designation. 

Found this research saying Bariatric Centers of Excellence don't necessarily have better outcomes.

COE

Of COURSE todays article is for today lol

I read through it just for fun, and the article says to ensure your surgeon and facility are members of MBSAQIP (

Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program)

I googled the acronym, went to website and found both my surgeon and the hospital :)

Just had my psych eval for preop this morning as well. Went fine, shouldnt be an issue for clearance. And no copay, which rocks since Im self pay now every dollar helps :)

The Center of Excellence program that was run by the ASMBs is no longer in existence. Your surgeon may still be using the old logo from when he was in the program on his site. A lot of surgeons still use it because they DID at one point go through process of applying for and being accepted in the COE program.

The program you want to look for now is the MBSAQIP program. It explains when the old program ended and the new program. Here is the link: https://asmbs.org/about/mbsaqip

Only HOSPITALS are certified through this program - not individual doctors and practices. This is the main difference that you will find. The program for the Surgical Review Corp you linked to is not considered as rigorous a program. Hope this helps.

exactly, thanks! just found that and posted about it just above your reply actually that him and the hospital are both listed n their site

This makes sense because I searched the ASMBS website and I could not find any mention of the COE program. I really remembred that in the past it was on the website.  Thank you for clearing up this mystery.

https://asmbs.org/about/mbsaqip

My hosp and surgeon are both on the new list. (Not that it matters because I had my surgery 15 months ago, but it's nice to know they are still approved.)