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San Antonio, Texas – Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital received its Medicare Certification today for liver transplantation. “This is a significant milestone for Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital and specifically the liver transplant program, which celebrates its four-year anniversary this month,” said Marc Strode, Vice President - Transplant Services and Cancer Center, Methodist Healthcare.

Medicare Certification is the highest quality indicator for a transplant program. Only 93 hospitals nationwide are Medicare-certified to perform liver transplants. Achieving this accomplishment affords Medicare beneficiaries as well as other patients access to Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital for this service. To date, the Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital liver transplant team, led by Preston Foster, MD, has performed 75 liver transplants, with post-transplant patient survival rates that are among the highest in the country.

“We are elated with Medicare's decision. It represents the culmination of several years of hard work, mainly putting together the right team of liver transplant specialists and healthcare professionals in the clinic and throughout the hospital. We can now set our sights on further developing what has become a significant community resource, in order to better serve our patients and referring physicians across Central and South Texas,” ." said Dr. Foster.

“This certification falls in line with the mission of Texas Transplant Institute to provide unsurpassed care, first-rate research and exemplary education,” said C.F. LeMaistre, MD, director of the transplant institute housed at Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital and Methodist Hospital.

Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., administrator of The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said, “Our comprehensive review showed that this [Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital’s] experience and survival rates provide the potential for a safe and effective transplant program,” he said.

“I know how important a liver transplant program can be for the people of Central Texas, and liver transplants performed by this facility for people with Medicare will now be covered by Medicare,” said McClellan.

CMS helps pay for heart and liver transplants only when performed in facilities meeting special quality standards. Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital, is now one of only 93 hospitals in the nation with certification to perform liver transplants for Medicare beneficiaries.

The criteria used by CMS for selection of liver transplant centers are intended to ensure that approval is given only to facilities with the necessary experience and expertise to perform this complex surgery successfully.

A list of the current approved liver transplant centers, including year of Medicare's approval, is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/providers/transplant/livrlist.asp

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Methodist Healthcare is San Antonio’s largest and most preferred health care provider with 22 facilities including seven acute care hospitals: Methodist Heart Hospital*, Methodist Children’s Hospital of South Texas*, Methodist Hospital, Methodist Specialty and Transplant Hospital*, Northeast Methodist Hospital*, Metropolitan Methodist Hospital* and Methodist Ambulatory Surgery Hospital.

* A Methodist Hospital facility