Published online Feb 10, 2014. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v3.i1.1
Revised: October 20, 2013
Accepted: December 9, 2013
Published online: February 10, 2014
Processing time: 215 Days and 10.8 Hours
The ‘‘Center of Excellence’’ concept has been employed in healthcare for several decades. This concept has been adopted in several disciplines; such as bariatric surgery, orthopedic surgery, diabetes and stroke. The most successful model in surgery thus far has been the bariatric program, with a very extensive network and a large prospective database. Recently, the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists has introduced this concept in gynecologic surgery. The ‘‘Center Of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology’’ (COEMIG) designation program has been introduced with the goals of increasing safety and efficiency, cutting cost and increasing patient awareness and access to minimally invasive surgical options for women. The program may harbor challenges as well, such as human and financial resources, and difficulties with implementation and maintenance of such designation. This commentary describes the COEMIG designation process, along with its potential benefits and possible challenges. Though no studies have been published to date on the value of this concept in the field of gynecologic surgery, we envision this commentary to provoke such studies to examine the relative value of this new program.
Core tip: There are a number of benefits and potential challenges inherent to the ‘‘Center Of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology’’ (COEMIG) program. With an understanding of these challenges, organizations pursuing COEMIG may find advantages in efficiency, marketing and growth for both the institution and practice as a whole. There may also be reductions in complications, improvement in patient satisfaction and potentially reductions in cost that can arise as a result of COEMIG.