Requirements to Apply to Become A Center of Excellence


Requirement One

  • A commitment at the highest levels of the institution's administration and the applicant's medical staff to excellence in the care of patients with pelvic floor disorder.

  • An organizational chart reflecting a direct relationship of the physician medical director and the assigned hospital administrator to the vice president of the hospital and/or chief of staff.

  • An institutional commitment that is also demonstrated by employing clearly defined, credentialing guidelines for pelvic reconstructive surgery.

Requirement Two

  • The reasonable expectation that the applicant institution will perform at least 150 pelvic reconstructive surgical cases per year.

  • The reasonable expectation that the applicant surgeon will have performed at least 150 total pelvic reconstructive cases in their lifetime with at least 100 cases performed in the preceding 12 month period.

Requirement Three
The applicant maintains a designated physician medical director for the institution's pelvic floor disorder center who participates in the relevant decision making administrative meetings of the institution.

Requirement Four
The applicant institution maintains a full complement in alliance for referrals or on staff of the various consultative services required for the care of pelvic floor disorder patients, including gynecology, urology, colorectal surgery, gastroenterology and physical therapy, among others.

Requirement Five
The applicant maintains a full line of diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and instruments for the care of the pelvic floor disorder patients.

Requirement Six
The institutional applicant has a pelvic floor disorder reconstructive surgeon who spends a significant portion of his or her efforts in the field of pelvic floor disorder reconstructive surgery and who possesses qualified coverage and support for patient care.

Requirement Seven
The applicant utilizes standard, clinical pathways and orders that facilitate the standardization of perioperative care for the relevant procedure. In addition, all pelvic floor disorder surgical procedures are standardized for each surgeon.

Requirement Eight
The applicant utilizes designated nurses or other allied health professionals who are formally trained and dedicated to caring for pelvic floor disorder surgical patients.

Requirement Nine
The applicant provides appropriate patient education materials on such topics as pelvic floor muscle training and offers free information to assist all patients prior to discharge who have undergone care for pelvic floor disorder at the institution in access to one or more established patient education and advocacy organizations serving consumers in the field of pelvic floor disorder for continuing enrichment of their on-going health literacy and self-care. In addition, the applicant physicians assume an active role of involvement in community health education.

Requirement Ten

The applicant utilizes a uniform system for the reporting of all patient outcomes. In addition, the applicant provides documentation of a program dedicated to a goal of long-term patient follow-up of at least two years with a monitoring and tracking system for outcomes and agreement to provide periodic outcome summaries to the National Association For Continence (NAFC) in a manner consistent with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations.
This requirement is based on the clinical observation that a significant number of patients develop a recurrence of symptoms and/or experience unresolved, postoperative adverse events. There is no requirement that the surgeon provide the follow-up personally - only that he/she is aware of the long-term status of the patient, as circumstances are made known or presented. Where feasible, all such patient-specific data will be captured, and no patient follow-up will be intentionally excluded.

Requirement Eleven
The applicant institution demonstrates evidence of guarding the safety of its patients and workers, protecting all human life from being harmed by diagnostics or treatment interventions, to the best of its ability.

Requirement Twelve
The institution has a track record of using outcomes data, patient feedback and high level research to achieve evidence-based continuous quality improvement in its practice of patient care.