Blue Distinction Centers^® expand

 

Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care^® recently announced the addition of Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement^SM and Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery^SM. These new specialty centers complement the existing centers for bariatric surgery, complex and rare cancers, cardiac care and transplants.

The Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement meet rigorous quality measures and achieve outcomes meeting high standards in comprehensive inpatient knee and hip replacement services, including total:

• Knee replacement
• Hip replacement

We congratulate Capital Medical Center, Overlake Hospital Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital - Bellingham, Swedish First Hill and Virginia Mason Medical Center for receiving designations as Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement.

The Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery demonstrated competency in comprehensive inpatient spine surgery services, including:

• Discectomy
• Fusion
• Decompression procedures

We congratulate Harborview Hospital and Valley Medical Center for receiving designations as Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery.

The Blue Distinction designation is based on rigorous, clinically meaningful selection criteria. For each specialty area, we have collaborated with leading medical organizations to do a thorough review of nationally established measures and have included input from expert physicians.

Learn more about this program and hospital quality information. A map of Blue Distinction Centers is also available to help you identify Centers throughout the nation.

Note: Designation as Blue Distinction Centers means these facilities' overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians' and leading professional organizations' recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To find out which services are covered under your policy at any facilities, please call your local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield Plan.

Note from the editor: Article updated on February 1 to include additional facilities designated as Blue Distinction Centers.

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