Developed in collaboration with leading clinicians and professional organizations, Blue Distinction® recognizes facilities whose overall experience and aggregate data meet objective, evidence-based selection criteria for clinical quality.

At the core of Blue Distinction are the Blue Distinction Centers^SM, providing Blue members with a credible means of identifying hospitals that meet their individual healthcare needs for select procedures and conditions. Centers have been established in four areas of specialty care:

Bariatric surgery (also know as "weight loss surgery" or gastric bypass surgery)

Obesity is widely recognized as a contributor to serious health risks. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the total number of Americans having weight-loss surgery more than quadrupled between 1998 and 2002 - from 13,386 to 71,733 - with part of the increase driven by a 900 percent rise in surgeries on patients between the ages of 55 and 64.

Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery^SM provide a full range of bariatric surgery care services, including inpatient care, post-operative care, outpatient follow-up care and patient education. To date, we have designated more than 200 Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery across the country.

Cardiac care

The American Heart Association estimates that this year alone 1.2 million Americans will experience a first or recurrent heart attack. When it is you or someone you care about that is in need of heart care, you want to find a facility you can trust. Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care^SM have demonstrated their commitment to quality care, resulting in better overall outcomes for cardiac patients.

Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care provide a full range of cardiac care services, including inpatient cardiac care, cardiac rehabilitation, cardiac catheterization and cardiac surgery (including coronary artery bypass graft surgery). To date, we have designated more than 420 Blue Distinction Centers for Cardiac Care across the country.

Complex and rare cancers

Complex and rare cancers comprise approximately 15 percent of new cancer cases each year. Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare CancersSM are the first in a line of Blue Distinction Centers^SM focused on cancer treatment.

This initial phase evaluates facilities on patient assessment, treatment planning, complex inpatient care and major surgical treatments for adults; all delivered by teams with distinguished expertise and subspecialty training for complex and rare cancers. The program focuses on the thirteen types of cancers: bladder, brain (primary), esophageal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, rectal, acute leukemia (inpatient, non-surgical), bone, head and neck, ocular melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma and thyroid (medullary or anaplastic) cancer. To date, more than 85 Blue Distinction Centers for Complex and Rare Cancers have been designated across the country.

Transplants

As of September 2007, over 97,000 people in the United States were registered for organ donations from one of the nation's 800+ transplant programs. The Blue Distinction Centers for TransplantsSM program can help you find the transplant program that meets your needs.

Blue Distinction Centers for Transplants provide a range of services for nine transplant types: heart, lung (deceased and living donor), combination heart bilateral lung, liver (deceased and living donor), simultaneous pancreas kidney (SPK), pancreas (PAK/PTA), combination liver kidney, kidney-only in conjunction with SPK/PAK and bone marrow/stem cell (autologous and allogeneic) transplants. To date, more than 80 Blue Distinction Centers for Transplants have been designated, representing more than 250 specific transplant programs across the country.