OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Overland Park’s newest hospital is open and operating with a focus on helping people beat obesity.
Blue Valley Hospital is the new surgery facility for Weight Loss Surgical Center. While the hospital was designed with bariatric surgery in mind, it is expanding its range of specialties and procedures. The new hospital is a seven-bed facility with two operating rooms.
“We offer a more intimate hospital experience than what many people expect,” said Douglas Palzer, CEO of the private, acute care hospital. “With only three out-patient and four-inpatient beds, our patients get a lot of personal attention.”
Palzer had previously operated Weight Loss Surgical Center’s ambulatory surgery center, just a mile southwest of the new hospital. The practice began the move away from the ASC environment and into the hospital facility to help more of its patients obtain insurance approval.
The hospital is also available for private practice surgeons during days that Weight Loss Surgical Center’s Surgeons are not performing surgeries.
“Surgeons with privileges at the hospital get to develop close working relationships with our nursing staff,” said Palzer, “and we’re able to offer private practice surgeons features such as block scheduling, so they can perform a series of cases in a row.”
Some of the surgeries already performed at Blue Valley Hospital include adjustable gastric banding, plastic surgeries and pain procedures.
The hospital staff has been focusing on ensuring quality and safety of care. The Joint Commission surveyed the hospital this fall, and the hospital was given accreditation, which is considered the Gold Seal of Approval™ in health care.
Weight Loss Surgical Center, which has a clinic inside the new Blue Valley Hospital building performs hundreds of LAP-BAND® and REALIZE™ Band surgeries each year. For initial consultations about the band and for long-term post-operative care and band adjustment, Weight Loss Surgical Center has ten clinics in Overland Park, Wichita and Topeka, Kan.; Kansas City, Independence, Springfield and St. Peters, Mo.; Des Moines and Council Bluffs, Iowa; and Omaha, Neb.
