In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Brett Johnson, MD, and Clifford Ko, MD, FACS, from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). They discuss the recent article by Drs Johnson and Ko, “Evaluating Outcomes of Initial Site Visits Across American College of Surgeons Accreditation Programs,” in which the authors found that ACS accreditation identifies significant gaps in hospital quality, with only 61% of hospitals passing on their initial attempt. However, most ultimately succeed after remediation. These findings highlight that ACS accreditation both validates hospitals meeting rigorous standards and drives quality improvement in those that initially fall short.

Disclosure Information: Drs Varghese, speaker, has no relevant financial conflicts to disclose. Drs Johnson and Ko, speakers, are employees of the American College of Surgeons.

Johnson, Brett A MD, MS, MS; Hobika, Geoffrey G MD; McNamara, Erica J MPH, MM; Ko, Clifford Y MD, MS, MSHS, FACS. Evaluating Initial Site Visit Pass Rate Across American College of Surgeons Accreditation Programs. Journal of the American College of Surgeons 241(4):p 594-600, October 2025. | DOI: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001441 

Learn more about the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, a monthly peer-reviewed journal publishing original contributions on all aspects of surgery, including scientific articles, collective reviews, experimental investigations, and more.