USA Health Names Surgical Quality Officer For Providence

USA Health has named Dr. Danuel Laan, director of bariatric surgery at USA Health Providence Hospital, to the additional role of surgical quality officer. As surgical quality officer, Laan will be responsible for overseeing, coordinating and advancing quality, safety and performance improvement initiatives across all surgical services at the hospital. Laan will continue his clinical practice in addition to this new role. A bariatric and general surgeon, Laan led the hospital’s effort to become an Accredited Metabolic and Bariatric Center of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Its comprehensive, nationwide quality program aimed at ensuring the safe and effective performance of metabolic and bariatric surgery. As an accredited center, Providence is also an ACS Surgical Quality Partner. In addition, it holds the Blue Distinction Centers for Bariatric Surgery designation from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama. To achieve this designation, a facility must meet many specific patient quality and safety metrics, including providing effective bariatric surgical procedures with very low complication and readmission rates. As surgical quality officer, Laan will serve as the physician leader for surgical quality/safety to identify areas for improvement in the perioperative environment and partner with other subspecialty surgical leaders at the hospital to optimize the delivery of surgical care.