Med center earns blue distinction for spine surgery, knee and hip replacement

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska has designated UNMC’s hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, as a Blue Distinction Center for Spine Surgery and a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement.

More about the Blue Distinction The Blue Distinction designation is awarded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies to medical facilities that have demonstrated expertise in delivering quality health care in the areas of bariatric surgery, cardiac care, complex and rare cancers, knee and hip replacement, spine surgery and transplants. The program is part of the company’s effort to collaborate with physicians and medical facilities to improve the overall quality and safety of specialty care. The Nebraska Medical Center also is a Blue Distinction Center for Complex and Rare Cancers.

Blue Distinction Centers for Spine Surgery and Blue Distinction Centers for Knee and Hip Replacement are part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s expansion of its Blue Distinction designation.

“It is an honor to be recognized as a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement,” said Kevin Garvin, M.D., chairman and professor of the UNMC orthopaedic surgery department. “The designation validates the care we provide to patients afflicted with arthritic conditions of the hip and knee.”

Orthopaedic surgeons at The Nebraska Medical Center perform primary and complex hip and knee replacements on patients with arthritis, problems with joint disease from trauma, childhood hip and knee diseases and prosthetic joint infections.

“It is fitting recognition of the quality of care we provide at The Nebraska Medical Center,” said Kenneth Follett, M.D., professor of neurosurgery at UNMC and chief of neurosurgery at The Nebraska Medical Center. “It reflects the expertise of our physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of spinal disorders.”