Surgery center at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital attains national verification from the American College of Surgeons
One of the first in the nation to receive Level II accreditation
“This is a tremendous honor and aligns with our commitment to provide optimal care for our children and families close to home across multiple surgical subspecialties,” said Alfred Kennedy, M.D., department chair of pediatric surgery. “The Children’s Surgery Verification Program specifically addresses the surgical care of infants and children and reinforces our work at Geisinger to have the right child with the right surgeon at the right time.”
The program was developed to improve the quality of children’s surgical care by creating a system that allows for a prospective match of every child’s individual surgical needs with a care environment that has optimal pediatric resources. Verified centers must meet standards that ensure children having surgery receive care under a multidisciplinary program with quality improvement and safety processes, data collection and appropriate resources provided to them.
As a verified center, the children’s hospital needed to meet criteria for staffing, training and facility infrastructure and protocols for care that allow it to offer top-notch care to surgical patients. The program aims to improve surgical quality and prevent complications, reduce costs and save lives.
“To be recognized as one of the first hospitals in the nation to receive a Level II Children’s Surgery Verification from the American College of Surgeons continues to expand on Abigail Geisinger’s mission to advance healthcare in our community,” said Denise Torres, M.D., chair of Geisinger’s Surgery Institute. “This demonstrates our commitment to making care easier for our patients and their families to access during their time of need.”
Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital will also be part of a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of its processes and outcomes, thus identifying opportunities for continuous quality improvement.
Read about the ACS CSV program on the association’s website.
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical education and practice and to improve the quality of care for surgical patients. Its achievements have placed it at the forefront of American surgery and have made the College an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has more than 80,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the non-profit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 134 care sites - including 10 hospital campuses, and Geisinger Health Plan, with 600,000 members in commercial and government plans. The Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,600 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $14 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
