Advancing Bariatric Surgery Through Collaboration
The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative (MBSC) is a voluntary quality improvement initiative that brings together hospitals and surgeons across the state of Michigan to improve the safety and effectiveness of bariatric surgery. Established in 2005, the collaborative represents one of the most comprehensive regional efforts in the United States dedicated to advancing outcomes in weight-loss surgery through shared data, peer learning, and evidence-based best practices.
MBSC operates as a coordinated network of participating hospitals and surgical teams who contribute clinical data to a centralized registry. This data-driven approach allows members to benchmark their performance against statewide averages, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement targeted interventions that reduce complications, shorten recovery times, and enhance long-term patient outcomes.
Through regular collaborative meetings, quality improvement workshops, and the dissemination of clinical guidelines, MBSC fosters a culture of continuous learning among its member sites. The collaborative's multidisciplinary focus ensures that surgeons, nurses, dietitians, and behavioral health specialists all contribute to delivering the highest standard of care for patients undergoing bariatric procedures.
MBSC is supported in part by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) and Blue Care Network as part of the BCBSM Value Partnerships program. This partnership provides critical funding and infrastructure that enable the collaborative to sustain its data collection efforts, research activities, and quality improvement programs across the state.
The mission of the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative is to improve the quality of bariatric surgical care delivered to patients across Michigan. We achieve this by collecting and analyzing clinical data from participating sites, facilitating the exchange of best practices among member hospitals, and translating research findings into actionable quality improvement strategies.
MBSC is committed to ensuring that every patient who undergoes bariatric surgery in Michigan receives safe, effective, and compassionate care. By working collaboratively rather than competitively, our member sites raise the standard of care for the entire state while empowering individual institutions to address their unique challenges and patient populations.
The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative was founded in 2005 in response to the rapid growth of bariatric surgery procedures across the state and the recognized need for a structured approach to monitoring and improving surgical outcomes. From its inception, MBSC was designed as a clinician-led initiative that prioritized data transparency, mutual respect among participants, and a shared commitment to patient safety.
In its early years, the collaborative focused on establishing a robust clinical data registry and recruiting hospitals from across Michigan to participate. As membership grew, MBSC developed standardized protocols for data collection, created benchmarking reports for member sites, and launched targeted quality improvement campaigns addressing key areas such as venous thromboembolism prevention, surgical site infection reduction, and optimal patient selection criteria.
Over the years, MBSC has expanded its scope to include patient engagement tools, primary care provider resources, and digital health initiatives that support the full continuum of bariatric care. The collaborative has published numerous peer-reviewed studies demonstrating measurable improvements in complication rates, readmission rates, and overall patient satisfaction across its member sites.
Today, MBSC continues to serve as a national model for collaborative quality improvement in surgery, demonstrating that voluntary, data-driven partnerships between hospitals and clinicians can produce meaningful and sustained improvements in patient care.