I have been a hospital administrator for 10 years and possess an MBA from a top 20 business school. I have developed a hospital based, bariatric surgical weight loss program over the last 4 years. Our surgical volume has grown from 0 to over 400 surgeries, resulting in over $4, 00, 00 in contribution margin annually. This is significant as we are a relatively small hospital in a major urban market with a limited budget. Our program has been awarded the 5-star ranking 4 years in a row, #1 in our market and top 15% in the nation with regards to quality according to HealthGrades. My expertise lies in the business and operational aspects of developing a successful surgical weight loss program. This includes; marketing and advertising, lead tracking, patient processing and throughput, insurance (commercial and government) approval issues, physician relations, government regulations and outcomes tracking. While I am not a clinician, I am extremely knowledgeable on the medical and psychological issues surrounding surgical weight loss. What makes a bariatric surgery program unique is that it is one of the very few consumer driven, self-referred service lines in a hospital. It requires aggressive marketing strategies and operational excellence. Understanding this and executing a good business plan has allowed me to develop a very successful program in a highly competitive market. We are the smallest acute care hospital in our market, but we perform more bariatric surgeries annually than any of our competitors in our primary service market.