Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program Accreditation: Time to Move From Competition to Collaboration

To the Editor We read with interest the article titled “Variation in Outcomes at Bariatric Surgery Centers of Excellence” by Ibrahim et al.¹ The study used the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality administrative state inpatient databases to determine the variation in complication rates within accredited centers in 12 US states.

This study’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality data predate the formation of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) in 2014 and lack a critical factor for risk adjustment, namely body mass index.¹ Previous studies^2-4 have demonstrated that accredited centers treat larger, sicker patients with improved outcomes and lowered cost.