Press Releases

Receives Fifth Consecutive Bariatric Surgery Excellence^TM Award
From HealthGrades^® With Highest Ranking In Downstate New York

(May 26, 2010 - Rockville Centre, NY) In the latest affirmation of the hospital's delivery of the highest quality patient care, Mercy Medical Center has received the 2010/2011 Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award from HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent healthcare ratings organization, with the best outcomes of any New York weight-loss surgery program in Long Island, New York City and Westchester County.

HealthGrades began its ratings for bariatric surgery five years ago and Mercy has received the Excellence Award every year, along with the highest Five Star rating. In the latest ratings, Mercy also was ranked third in all of New York State, the fifth year in a row that it has been in the top three statewide as well as in the top five percent nationally.

The honors are based on the latest HealthGrades annual study of Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals, which analyzed weight-loss surgery patient outcomes over a three-year period at 684 hospitals in 19 states that collect patient-outcomes data. Mercy was one of just 48 hospitals to receive the Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award. The study found that patients at hospitals like Mercy, who achieve the highest Five Star level of quality care, have on average 43% fewer complications and spend 10% less time in the hospital compared to patients treated at average hospitals.

Mercy is a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designated by the American Society For Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, and the hospital's weight-loss surgery program is headed by Dr. Shawn Garber (photo, left), the only bariatric surgeon included in Newsday's listing of Top Doctors on Long Island. It offers both Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass (also referred to as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) which is considered the "Gold Standard" of modern obesity surgery, and Laparoscopic Banding (Adjustable Gastric Band), including the latest technique, known as Single Incision Laparoscopic Surgery (SILS), that uses just one small opening in the abdomen, through the navel, rather than the five incisions required in traditional methods.

Mercy offers monthly education and informational presentations for individuals who are contemplating bariatric surgery. For more information contact Mercy Medical Center at: 516-62-MERCY. Or visit on line at: www.MercyMedicalCenter.info

HealthGrades' ratings for bariatric surgery along with other medical procedures, are published on the Web, free of charge, at: www.healthgrades.com.