The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is awarding Vanderbilt Health its prestigious Emergency General Surgery (EGS) Verification, making it one of the few programs in the country to receive the designation.
Emergency general surgery conditions account for more than 4 million hospital admissions annually, with patients experiencing three times the mortality rate and six times the complication rate when compared with elective surgical patients.
Conditions typically treated with EGS include acute abdomen/peritonitis, soft tissue infection, gallbladder disease, gastrointestinal obstruction, pancreatitis, diverticular disease, appendicitis, acute gastrointestinal bleed, perforated peptic ulcer disease, and incarcerated hernia.
EGS-VP, a surgical quality program launched in 2022 by the ACS and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, is a national quality verification program focused on the care and treatment of patients with emergency general surgery diseases.
“This recognition affirms the extraordinary teamwork, dedication and clinical excellence demonstrated every day by our surgeons, trainees, advanced practice providers, nurses and multidisciplinary partners,” said Michael Smith, MD, associate professor of Surgery and medical director of Emergency General Surgery.
“EGS Verification is not a finish line, it’s a commitment. Vanderbilt Health will continue to build on this foundation by advancing quality improvement, education and research to set the national standard for emergency general surgery care.”
The verification helps hospitals establish and maintain the highest standards in emergency general surgery by providing a standardized framework for assessing and elevating patient care with an emphasis on establishing, measuring and improving clinical care, surgical quality and patient safety.
Vanderbilt Health’s efforts to receive EGS Verification were led by Smith, Andrew Medvecz, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Acute Care Surgery, and Kayla Williams, RN, EGS PI program manager for Vanderbilt Health.
“Attaining EGS Verification represents a commitment from the Division of Acute Care Surgery and the larger Vanderbilt Health community to achieving the highest standards of clinical excellence and continuous improvement while serving patients with acute surgical conditions,” Medvecz said.
“Through our performance improvement process, we partner across many disciplines, including radiology, gastroenterology, anesthesiology and emergency medicine, to optimize our coordination through each patient’s entire care.”
Williams said EGS Verification places Vanderbilt alongside leading hospitals nationwide that have demonstrated the expertise, resources and commitment required to optimize outcomes for emergency general surgery patients.
“This achievement is the result of the extraordinary collaboration and dedication of our surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, quality teams and support staff, whose shared focus on continuous improvement made possible,” Williams said. “This achievement strengthens our ability to evaluate outcomes, refine core pathways, and continue elevating the standard of emergency general surgery care we provide.
“For our patients and the broader community, this verification provides confidence that Vanderbilt is prepared to deliver reliable, high-quality emergency surgical care around the clock,” she said. “This designation affirms that our teams, protocols and care pathways meet nationally recognized standards for quality and safety.”
The verification status is effective for three years from the site visit, until July 9, 2028, with Vanderbilt Health listed as a participating hospital at www.facs.org/egs.
The EGS-VP verified status also includes the distinction of being recognized as an ACS Surgical Quality Partner.
Mayur Patel, MD, MPH, chief of the Division of Acute Care Surgery and Ingram Professor of Surgical Sciences, said the recognition makes Vanderbilt Health one of very few hospitals that is ABA Burn verified, ACS Trauma Center verified, and that has received the ACS Quality Verification Program (QVP) focused verification, a national recognition of the hospital’s strong infrastructure and data-driven processes to deliver high-quality, safe surgical care to patients.
