Vascular Verification Program Verifies First Community Hospital
Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital Receives ACS/SVS Vascular Verification
CHICAGO (January 3, 2025): Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital in Grand Junction Colorado was awarded ACS/SVS Vascular-VP designation on November 19, 2024. By achieving this prestigious status, Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital shows their commitment to delivering high quality treatment for patients receiving vascular surgical and interventional care and to improving outcomes. Intermountain Health St. Mary’s Regional Hospital is the first community hospital to be verified in the ACS/SVS Vascular-VP.
"This is truly a great honor for St. Mary's Hospital to be recognized as one of the first nationally verified programs. Kudos to all the doctors, nurses, and staff that worked to ensure its success," said Bryan Johnson, president of Intermountain St. Mary’s Regional Hospital.
This tremendous accomplishment was led by Dr. Tej Singh, MD, MBA, Medical Director of Vascular Surgery. "We’re grateful to Dr. Singh for his instrumental work in building a high-quality vascular program and achieving vascular verification. These efforts include timely patient access and work with the vascular quality initiative registry, national accreditation, care compliance, surgical leadership, and mentoring,” said Ben Smalley, chief operating officer for St. Mary’s Regional Hospital. “Dr. Singh’s passion for vascular and endovascular care, and his team-based leadership have helped grow our program to deliver the highest-level of vascular care to our community.”
Vascular-VP is an ACS Quality Program developed with the SVS and leverages the strengths and expertise of the ACS and SVS to provide an evidence-driven, standardized pathway for instituting and growing a quality improvement and clinical care infrastructure within a center’s vascular program.
Meeting the Highest Standards of Care
The Vascular-VP offers two levels of participation for inpatient centers and one for outpatient centers. All are built on a foundation of quality metrics in program, facility, and service resources, as well as data collection and quality improvement activities, with many standards shared across all levels.
To become verified, this center has met the standards outlined in the Optimal Resources for Vascular Surgery and Interventional Care - Inpatient Standards, which addresses elements of vascular surgical care and quality.
Becoming an ACS Surgical Quality Partner
As a Vascular-VP verified center, these centers have also become ACS Surgical Quality Partners. Being an ACS Surgical Quality Partner signifies a center’s dedication to consistently improving procedures and approaches while maintaining a critical eye on the process at every step. The Surgical Quality Partner designation lets patients know a center is dedicated to quality and relentless self-improvement and has been verified or accredited by the ACS. Patients can trust that the care they receive at Surgical Quality Partner centers adheres to the most rigorous standards in surgical and procedural quality. These three centers are ACS Quality Partners by participating in Vascular-VP.
Centers interested in becoming a verified center and continuing the quality improvement journey of their vascular service are encouraged to apply online.
More information about Vascular-VP is available on the ACS website.
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The College has approximately 90,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. "FACS" designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
About the Society for Vascular Surgery
The Society for Vascular Surgery® (SVS) seeks to advance excellence and innovation in vascular health through education, advocacy, research, and public awareness. The organization was founded in 1946 and currently has a membership of more than 6,300. SVS membership is recognized in the vascular community as a mark of professional achievement.
