St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way announced today that it has been recertified as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). This certification is for three years.

 In 2005, St. Francis became the first hospital in Washington State to achieve Center of Excellence status from the ASMBS. It is also the leading hospital-based provider of weight loss surgeries in the state with more than 500 bariatric procedures performed during the 12-month period that ended June 30.

Weight loss surgeries at St. Francis are performed by dedicated bariatric surgeons Ki Oh, MD, Thomas Hirai, MD, and C. Gabriel Alperovich, MD, of the Franciscan Medical Group; and Myur Srikanth, MD, a Federal Way-based community physician.

In addition to this Center of Excellence designation, St. Francis Hospital is accredited by the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1b Bariatric Center. This accreditation acknowledges the hospital as a provider of the highest level of bariatric care.

St. Francis Hospital’s bariatric program is the only one in the state to be concurrently accredited by the American College of Surgeons and to be declared a Center of Excellence by the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery.

Bariatric surgery benefits adults who are dangerously obese and who cannot achieve significant, permanent weight loss through diet and exercise alone. Morbid obesity often causes numerous health problems that can shorten life.