Florida Blue Renews Recognition of Sylvester’s Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Program

Florida Blue has renewed its Blue Distinction Center for Transplants designation for the adult bone marrow transplant program at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The renewed designation is recognition that the program at Sylvester, part of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System, continues to meet the insurer’s national standards for high quality care and outcomes.

“We’re honored to continue receiving this important designation from Florida Blue,” said Krishna V. Komanduri, M.D., medical director of the Adult Stem Cell Transplant Program at Sylvester. “It verifies our efforts as a multidisciplinary team to provide the highest-quality care for our adult bone marrow transplant patients.”

The designation places Sylvester among a select group of hospitals nationwide that meet the national criteria for high-quality bone marrow transplantation set by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association’s Blue Distinction program. These objective measures, developed with input from the medical community, acknowledge the delivery of improved patient safety and better health outcomes related to transplant-specific quality measures, including survival.

Although rare, the number of transplants — including heart, lung, liver, pancreas and bone marrow/stem cell — has increased in recent years. More than 34,000 organ transplant procedures were performed in the U.S. in 2017, and 115,000 people are awaiting organ donations for transplants, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Florida Blue uses a combination of publicly available quality information and cost measures derived from their own medical claims to gauge health care quality, patient safety, quality and outcomes.

Since 2006, the Blue Distinction Specialty Care program has helped patients find quality health care facilities for their specialty care needs, while encouraging health care professionals to improve the care they deliver. The scope of the program extends beyond adult bone marrow transplantation, and is designed also to help patients and referring physicians identify higher quality specialty care in bariatric surgery, cancer care, cardiac care, maternity care, knee and hip replacements, spine surgery and more. Importantly, research shows that, compared to other hospitals, those designated as Blue Distinction Centers demonstrate better quality and improved outcomes for patients.

Sylvester will continue to be identified in the Blue’s National Doctor & Hospital Finder, Blue Distinction Center Finder and BDC National Listings to help physicians and patients make informed decisions about where to seek higher-quality specialty care.

Tags: Blue Distinction, BMT, bone marrow transplant, Florida Blue, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, UHealth - the University of Miami Health System