With obesity now an epidemic in the United States, Dr. Philippe J. Quilici has watched thousands of pounds melt from his patients who sought weight-loss surgery after years, and sometimes decades, of failed dieting.

Quilici, medical director of bariatrics and minimally invasive surgery at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, heads the hospital's surgical weight loss program, which was awarded five stars today by HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent health care ratings organization.

"We have great results and that's a credit to our great staff," Quilici said. "We tell our patients these surgeries are tools for them and we'll give them the resources to follow through to be successful, but they have to do the work."

After years of dieting, exercising and weight-loss pills, 28-year-old Helen Kanataryan of Van Nuys hit 341 pounds on the scale. A patient of Quilici, she underwent gastric-bypass surgery in February 2007, and today has lost more than 120 pounds. And this week, after years of trying to get pregnant, Kanataryan gave birth to her first child.

"I tried to get pregnant for five years," she said. "I finally did and it's all because of the surgery."

The weigh loss, she said, has changed her life - beyond the new baby.

"I just feel like I have more confidence," she said. "When I walk up the street, I don't feel like everyone's looking at how big I am. I feel so proud."

Gena Downey, 42, of Burbank is a size 4 today - this after losing more than 100 pounds from her peak weight of 230. A mother of two adult children and an 8-year-old, her drive was to be able to be active with her youngest, the way she used to be.

Before her April 2007 surgery, she had diabetes, "really bad sleep apnea" and was on heart medication. That's all in the past. Today Downey, her husband and the kids play golf and tennis together.

"At work, people are actually bringing me their clothes - size 4!" she said. "They're really excited to have me wear their clothes."

This is the third straight year the program at Providence Saint Joseph has received this top rating for weight-loss surgeries, which include laparoscopic gastric bypass, lap bands and other minimally invasive procedures.

The bariatrics program is one of only a dozen or so in the nation certified by both the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

HealthGrades analyzed bariatrics programs at hospitals in 17 states, combing through data compiled from 2004 through 2006. The findings placed Providence Saint Joseph in Burbank among the top hospitals in the nation for its surgical weight loss program.

The HealthGrades study analyzed the outcomes of 154,451 bariatric inpatient surgery procedures like these. A correlation between the number of surgeries performed and the quality was identified.

Five-star hospitals performed almost twice the volume of procedures compared to one-star rated hospitals. And bariatric surgery patients at top-rated hospitals have, on average, a 65 percent lower chance of experiencing major complications than at poor-performing hospitals, HealthGrades found.

"The tremendous variation we are seeing in quality among bariatric surgery providers underscores the importance of readily available quality data to help consumers make a truly informed decision about where to seek care," said Rick May, MD, a senior physician consultant with HealthGrades and an author of the study.

HealthGrades' bariatric surgery ratings are published on the Web, free of charge, at www.healthgrades.com.

Ratings for 27 other medical procedures and diagnoses - including cardiac, pulmonary, vascular, stroke, orthopedics, critical care, and gastrointestinal procedures and treatments - are also available on the HealthGrades Web site.