Transplant, bone marrow, Children’s perioperative receive kudos
Published on Monday, April 18, 2022
Medical Center’s liver/kidney and, bone marrow transplant programs receive honor
Two transplant programs – liver and kidney, and bone marrow - at the University of Mississippi Medical Center have achieved Center of Excellence level from Optum, a transplant insurance network.
It’s the highest level given by the Optum Transplant Network, a leading information and technology-enabled health services business. The Optum Transplant Network helps hospitals address the high variable costs and clinical complexity of transplant cases.
UMMC’s liver, kidney and bone marrow transplant programs are among 159 Optum Centers of Excellence representing 790 transplant programs nationally. To be considered for Center of Excellence standing, transplant programs must meet criteria set by Optum that include patient outcomes, annual volume of transplants, program accreditations, and physician and program experience.
For the transplant program, the Center of Excellence designation means patients covered by Commercial United HealthCare, UHC Medicare Advantage and out of state UHC Medicaid Plans can receive bone marrow transplant services at UMMC. United HealthCare accesses transplant centers through Optum’s Center of Excellence network. Optum is a subsidiary company of United HealthCare.
The Center of Excellence designation is the latest honor received by UMMC’s abdominal transplant program. In January, the liver transplant program was listed in the top three in the country by a federally contracted organization that compares transplant centers nationally.
The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients listed the Medical Center above some significantly larger programs such as the Mayo Clinic hospitals in Jacksonville, Fla., and Phoenix, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and the Ochsner Foundation Hospital in New Orleans.
The registry lists 148 liver transplant centers on factors including one-year post-transplant survival rates, survival rates of patients on a liver transplant wait list, and how fast someone on the waitlist received a deceased donor transplant. The registry also considers how many living and deceased donor liver transplants are performed annually.
Children’s of Mississippi Perioperative Services is CNOR Strong
The Competency and Credentialing Institute awarded Children’s of Mississippi’s Perioperative Services the CNOR Strong designation.
To achieve CNOR Strong status, more than 50 percent of a hospital’s surgical nurses must undergo the rigorous process to become certified perioperative nurses.
“This credential is known as the gold standard for perioperative nurses in the United States,” said Hailey Moore, director of perioperative services at Children’s of Mississippi. Currently, 62 percent of Children’s of Mississippi’s surgical nurses hold the specialty certification.
“We should all be very proud of these exceptional perioperative nurses as this designation is a first for Children’s of Mississippi,” Moore said. “This high level of certification demonstrates their professional commitment to bringing the highest national standards and best practices in perioperative nursing care to our patients at the only children’s hospital in the state of Mississippi.”