Plano, TX, June 2015 – The founder and lead surgeon of the Nicholson Clinic for Weight Loss Surgery has been recognized by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) as a Verified Surgeon for Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano. Recognition by the program requires vigorous verification of a surgeon’s compliance with the organization’s Resources for Optimal Care of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Patient standards. The accreditation is valid through January 2017.

“It is a tremendous honor to be recognized with this accreditation,” says Dr. Nick Nicholson, founder and lead surgeon at the North Texas-based Nicholson Clinic, one of the top weight loss surgery centers in the country. “The honor demonstrates our unwavering dedication to providing patients with the highest level of bariatric care available.”

The MBSAQIP program is a joint effort launched by the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The program’s standards were created to provide guidance for inpatient and outpatient facilities to provide an accountable process through which centers can demonstrate the highest quality of surgical care for bariatric patients.

These new standards are important because they create a “national unified program around which all MBSAQIP participating centers will comply,” said Ronald Clements, MD, FACS, Co-Chair of the ACS Committee for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, which oversees the MBSAQIP, and professor of surgery and director of bariatric surgery, Vanderbilt University, Nashville.

The vigorous standards are designed to serve as a blueprint for safe and effective patient outcomes. They include seven core areas along with two additional standards that are specific to band center and adolescent center accreditation.

“The Nicholson Clinic is committed to delivering patients the very best care available,” Dr. Nicholson says. “We are tremendously pleased that our efforts on behalf of patients have been recognized by the MBSAQIP verification subcommittee.”

Founded by Dr. Nick Nicholson, one of the country’s leading weight loss surgeons and co-author of “Weight Loss Surgery: The Real Skinny” the Nicholson Clinic for Weight Loss Surgery offers a variety of options to help patients gain control of their weight and their lives.