Barnes-Jewish Hospital's Centers of Excellence provide a wide range of treatment options for patients with simple and complex health conditions. Our health-care teams treat each patient with compassion while using advanced treatments and technology to ensure patients receive the very best medical care.
Each Center brings together a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and health-care professionals able to address the most complex and difficult medical problems.
The Joint Commission accredited Centers of Excellence:
Comprehensive Stroke Center
Recognizing Barnes-Jewish Hospital's efforts to ensure better outcomes for stroke patients, the Joint Commission certified Barnes-Jewish as a Primary Stroke Center in 2005 – the first hospital in the St. Louis area to receive the honor – and a Comprehensive Stroke Center in 2013 – the first hospital in Missouri to be certified.
The Joint Commission's Certificate of Distinction for Comprehensive Stroke Centers recognizes centers that make exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care. The team at Barnes-Jewish and Washington University School of Medicine is part of the initial number of Comprehensive Stroke Centers in the country. These centers are highlighted for their team-based approach to acute stroke care as well as patient safety and understanding of stroke rehabilitation. Achievement of certification signifies that the services you provide have the critical elements to achieve long-term success in improving outcomes. It is the best signal to your community that the quality care you provide is effectively managed to meet the unique and specialized needs of stroke patients. In fact, demonstrating compliance with these national standards and performance measurement expectations may help obtain contracts from employers and purchasers concerned with controlling costs and improving productivity.
Epilepsy Center of Excellence
Recognizing Barnes-Jewish Hospital's efforts to care for patients with seizures, the Joint Commission certified Barnes-Jewish as an Epilepsy Center of Excellence. At the time of recognition, Barnes-Jewish Hospital is one of only three epilepsy centers in the nation to receive Joint Commission certification.
The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization and is the nation's predominant standards setting and accrediting body in health care. Overall, they evaluate more than 15,000 organizations and programs in the United States.
The Joint Commission Certification Program for Disease-Specific Care provides a comprehensive evaluation of disease or condition-specific services. Joint Commission's certification is based on an assessment of compliance with relevant standards and criteria, the effective use of clinical guidelines and outcomes measurement. While accreditation ensures an organization's overall commitment to quality, certification demonstrates excellence in fostering better outcomes by the integration and coordination of care. The Joint Commission's quality review programs for accreditation and certification represent the industry's gold standard in health care.
Lung Volume Reduction Center of Excellence
The Washington University School of Medicine lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital earned certification as a Center of Excellence in 2007. The certification recognizes the LVRS program’s longstanding clinical excellence, outstanding patient care and leadership in thoracic surgery.
LVRS was developed by a team of Washington University physicians in 1993 as a surgical treatment for emphysema. As the procedure became more well-known and was shown to increase lung function and quality of life, patients came from around the world to have LVRS. To date, more than 400 patients have had LVRS at Barnes-Jewish.
"This certification is an acknowledgment of the incredible depth of talent on our team," said Dr. Bryan Meyers, surgical director of LVRS. "We have unmatched experience, not only in performing this procedure, but in caring for patients afterwards, that keeps us one of the strongest LVRS programs in the world."
In addition to thoracic surgeons who perform the procedure and pulmonologists who are expert in managing emphysema, the large LVRS team includes cardiothoracic anesthesiologists, nurses, physical therapists and respiratory therapists.
To be certified as a Center of Excellence, the Washington University/Barnes-Jewish program had to meet stringent requirements addressing patient selection, skill and expertise of the clinical team, volume and outcomes of procedures performed, and post-surgical patient care and rehabilitation.
The program was reviewed by the Joint Commission, the predominant accrediting body in health care in the U.S. The Joint Commission's quality review programs for accreditation and certification represent the industry's gold standard in health care.
Only programs certified as Centers of Excellence are eligible to receive reimbursement for LVRS from Medicare.
The American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS):
Washington University bariatric surgery program at Barnes-Jewish Hospital received the designation as an ASBS Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence in 2006.
To earn a Center of Excellence designation, the Washington University/Barnes-Jewish program, and the bariatric surgeons underwent rigorous review, followed by a site visit during which all aspects of the program's surgical processes were closely examined and data on health outcomes was collected.
The main benefits of the Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence program include:
- Patient safety and advocacy.
- A platform for the continuous improvement of bariatric surgery through comparisons of patient selection, operative procedures, and care paths.
- A central database that will guide our decisions and respond to challenges by our colleagues, insurance carriers, and the public.
- An invaluable resource for research.
Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), an organization that evaluates surgical quality, formulates and establishes the rigorous standards with which Centers of Excellence must comply, thoroughly inspects and evaluates each candidate, and upon review recommends approval of designation for those physicians and facilities whose practices and outcomes meet the stringent guidelines set forth.