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Mercy Receives Blue Distinction Center® Designation For Spine, Hip, And Knee Surgery

Baltimore, MD – Mercy Medical Center has been named a Blue Distinction Center® (BDC) for hip, knee and spinal surgery by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield.

Given to medical facilities that demonstrate expertise in delivering quality healthcare, the BDC designation is based on rigorous, evidence-based selection criteria established in collaboration with expert physicians' and medical organizations' recommendations. The BDC designation serves to help consumers find quality specialty care on a consistent basis, while enabling and encouraging health professionals to improve the overall quality and delivery of healthcare nationwide.

As a Blue Distinction Center, Mercy is recognized as offering experienced, comprehensive inpatient spinal surgery services, including discectomy, fusion and decompression procedures as well as comprehensive inpatient knee and hip replacement services, including total knee and total hip replacement. Mercy has been recognized throughout the mid-Atlantic region as a leader in the anterior approach to hip replacement.

“This distinction for spine, hip and knee surgery is indicative of Mercy’s clinical expertise and commitment to providing the quality, state-of-the-art medical care for our patients,” said Thomas R. Mullen, President and CEO of Mercy Medical Center. “It represents a cumulative effort between our physicians, nursing, rehabilitative medicine, physical therapy, anesthesiology, patient safety, and more,” he added.

According to Dr. Thomas Whitten, Chair of Orthopedics and Director of The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital at Mercy, the BDC designation “reflects our ongoing efforts to provide the best in diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic issues for the patients we serve.”

“Our best tool in the fight against disease remains education. Receiving the BDC designation helps us communicate that the quality spinal services our patients seek may be found here at Mercy, “said Dr. Charles Edwards II, Director of The Maryland Spine Center at Mercy.

Designation as a Blue Distinction Center® means these facilities’ overall experience and aggregate data met objective criteria established in collaboration with expert clinicians’ and leading professional organizations’ recommendations. Individual outcomes may vary. To find out which services are covered under your policy at any facilities, please call your local BlueCross and/or BlueShield Plan.