Obesity Control Center Achieves Global Healthcare Accreditation

October 31, 2019

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- (PR.com)— Obesity Control Center (https://obesitycontrolcenter.com/) in Tijuana, Mexico has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation by the Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program (https://globalhealthcareaccreditation.com/) for its Medical Travel Services Program. See official press release here.

The Obesity Control Center is a top provider of weight loss surgeries, including gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, mini bypass and non-surgical weight loss devices. Recognized as an International Center of Excellence in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery, the center has helped thousands of patients from around the world achieve their weight loss goals and lead happier, healthier lives.

According to Dr. Ariel Ortiz Lagardere, Director of the Center, "As one of the few hospitals in the world that are exclusively dedicated to weight loss surgery, Obesity Control Center is now considered one of the top-ranking hospitals globally with its designation as an International Center of Excellence. We have always had a strong focus on medical travel and we are continually seeking to improve the services we provide to traveling patients. It is only natural that we chose Global Healthcare Accreditation as it focuses on enhancing the entire medical travel care continuum, and ensures we have the right processes in place to consistently deliver a high-quality patient experience."

In 2016, the Global Healthcare Accreditation (GHA) Program was established with the goal of enhancing the patient experience for medical travelers across the entire Medical Travel Care Continuum. GHA standards, accredited by ISQua (through the International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association), provide concrete and measurable value to patients by ensuring that the hospital or clinic has instituted processes that are customized to the medical travelers' unique needs and expectations and are consistently monitored for improvement. Additionally, GHA provides healthcare organizations with a unique opportunity to not only acquire skills and competencies designed to strengthen their medical travel services, but also impact business performance.

Karen Timmons, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Healthcare Accreditation Program stated, "As we have seen with past events from the airline industry, a single incident, related not to safety but to passenger experience, can be captured on social media and shared across the globe in moments, with major damage to an organization's brand and reputation.  So, ensuring that all touchpoints across the entire Medical Travel Care Continuum are seamless is imperative, starting from the moment the patient first reviews an organization's website through aftercare at home. GHA standards promote proactive risk assessment of vulnerabilities in processes as well as a focus on transparency. We congratulate Obesity Control Center, one of the region's premier obesity centers, for achieving GHA Accreditation and for its commitment to supporting the needs of medical travel patients."

About Obesity Control Center:

Obesity Control Center® (OCC) was founded in Tijuana, Mexico in 1998 by Dr. Ariel Ortiz® and has established itself as a leader and pioneer in the  Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery field. The team of SRC Accredited ® Master Surgeons have developed techniques and innovations that have improved the quality and safety of care for weight loss surgery patients, especially those traveling across borders for medical care. OCC is credited for developing teenage weight loss surgery, lower bmi weight loss surgery, effective surgical solutions for failed weight loss procedures (The OCC Bypass Rescue, OCC Sleeve Rescue) and the  New IGS procedure (The Improved Gastric Sleeve) as well having helped develop a novel non surgical weight loss device, the world's first swallowable gastric balloon: Obalon Balloon®. The OCC is one of the busiest international centers ever distinguished as a Center of Excellence in Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery and is expanding to meet the increasing demands for quality and safe bariatric surgery care at an affordable cost. Obesity Control Center has now 4 Quality Accreditations, a testimony to the commitment to higher quality, safer and more effective procedures.

*Medical travel is also commonly known as medical tourism or health tourism.