Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute (BGMC/GVI) has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in the most recent general thoracic surgery database.*
The three-star rating, which denotes the highest quality outcomes, places BGMC/GVI among the leading teams for lung cancer resection.
“Participants in STS are highly specialized, so the high ranking is something we are especially proud of,” said Yaron Perry, MD, FACS, thoracic surgeon and division chief of thoracic surgery at the University at Buffalo. “The Thoracic Team at BGMC/GVI, a partner of Great Lakes Cancer Care Collaborative (GLCCC), earned this recognition just three years after establishing the program as part of a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer.”
BGMC/GVI, a Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited cancer program and partner of GLCCC, takes a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer as a complex group of diseases that requires consultation among surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, pathologists, and other cancer specialists. This multidisciplinary partnership results in improved patient care.
“Achieving the highest mark from STS is a testament to BGMC/GVI and GLCCC’s efforts in meeting the highest quality oncology care standards for patients throughout Western New York,” added Beth Hughes, president of BGMC/GVI.
“Our patients can be confident knowing they are getting the highest quality thoracic and lung cancer care with GLCCC and our partners,” added Victor Filadora, MD, president, GLCCC.
Historically, very few general thoracic surgery centers nationwide achieve this distinction with only about 13 percent of participants receiving the STS three-star rating for lung cancer resection.
The STS General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD) contains nearly 700,000 general thoracic surgery procedure records and includes about 1,000 participating physicians. Participating physicians report 11 quality measures related to operative mortality, 30-day outcome, major morbidity, and other quality measures. STS issues star ratings based on whether participants perform better, worse or as expected.
*Based on most recent STS public reporting from January 1, 2020, through December 2022.
About Great Lakes Cancer Care Collaborative (GLCCC)
GLCCC partners take a multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer including surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, diagnostic radiologists, and other cancer specialists, as well as medical imaging, dermatology, urology, and gastroenterology practices. Together, the partners create individualized treatment plans for each patient to ensure the best possible outcome.
Members of the collaborative include Cancer Care of Western New York; ECMC; Gastroenterology Associates, LLP; General Physician, PC; Great Lakes Medical Imaging; Kaleida Health; Niagara Dermatology; UBMD Physicians Group; Western New York Urology; Windsong; and Visiting Nursing Association of Western New York.