Cardiac care

Thomson Reuters announces 100 top heart hospitals

ANN ARBOR, Michigan – Thomson Reuters has released its annual study identifying the 100 U.S. hospitals that set the nation’s benchmarks for inpatient cardiovascular services.

The study - 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks - examined the performance of 971 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous cardiovascular interventions (PCI) such as angioplasties.

The hospitals setting the national cardiovascular benchmarks are listed below.

The study, in its 11th year, found that the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular winners have:

• 17 percent lower mortality rates for heart attack patients.

• 10 percent lower mortality rates for heart failure patients.

• 27 percent lower mortality for bypass surgery patients.

• 22 percent lower mortality following PCI.

• Fewer post-operative complications - 99 percent of patients were complication-free.

• Close to 12 percent shorter average hospital stay.

• 12 percent lower cost per case.

The top performing hospitals perform over 50 percent more cardiac surgeries than peer hospitals.

“These hospitals provide balanced high performance across cardiovascular services. This means they are providing high quality and highly efficient services at a reasonable cost in comparison to peers across the United States,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs at Thomson Reuters

The 100 Top Hospitals study evaluated short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2008 Medicare cost reports, and data from other sources.

They scored hospitals in key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures (a group of measures that assess process of care), percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost.

Hospitals were classified into three comparison groups. The 2009 winners are listed below. (The order of hospitals in the list does not reflect performance ranking.)

Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residency Programs (30 winners)

• St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center - Phoenix, AZ
• Cleveland Clinic Florida - Weston, FL
• Advocate Christ Medical Center - Oak Lawn, IL
• Advocate Lutheran General Hospital - Park Ridge, IL
• Loyola University Medical Center - Maywood, IL
• St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital - Indianapolis, IN
• Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa - Mason City, IA
• Maine Medical Center - Portland, ME
• Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center - Boston, MA
• Baystate Medical Center - Springfield, MA
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Boston, MA
• UMass Memorial Medical Center - Worcester, MA
• Lahey Clinic Medical Center - Burlington, MA
• Providence Hospital and Medical Center - Southfield, MI
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center - Lebanon, NH
• Hackensack University Medical Center - Hackensack, NJ
• Albany Medical Center - Albany, NY
• Staten Island University Hospital - Staten Island, NY
• Kettering Medical Center - Kettering, OH
• The Ohio State University Medical Center - Columbus, OH
• Grandview Medical Center - Dayton, OH
• Good Samaritan Hospital - Cincinnati, OH
• Geisinger Medical Center - Danville, PA
• UPMC Passavant - Pittsburgh, PA
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center - Nashville, TN
• Scott and White Memorial Hospital - Temple, TX
• Fletcher Allen Health Care - Burlington, VT
• University of Virginia Medical Center - Charlottesville, VA
• University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics - Madison, WI
• Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center - Milwaukee, WI

Teaching Hospitals Without Cardiovascular Residency Programs (40 winners)

• Mercy Medical Center Redding - Redding, CA
• St. Mary’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center - Grand Junction, CO
• Morton Plant Hospital - Clearwater, FL
• St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center - Boise, ID
• St. John’s Hospital - Springfield, IL
• Memorial Hospital of Carbondale - Carbondale, IL
• Ball Memorial Hospital - Muncie, IN
• Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines - Des Moines, IA
• Rapides Regional Medical Center - Alexandria, LA
• North Shore Medical Center - Salem, MA
• St. Joseph Mercy Oakland - Pontiac, MI
• Spectrum Health Hospitals - Grand Rapids, MI
• Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals - Clinton Township, MI
• Marquette General Hospital - Marquette, MI
• Munson Medical Center - Traverse City, MI
• St. Joseph Mercy Hospital - Ann Arbor, MI
• St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital - Warren, MI
• William Beaumont Hospital-Troy - Troy, MI
• Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital - St. Louis Park, MN
• Billings Clinic - Billings, MT
• St. Peter’s Hospital - Albany, NY
• Rochester General Hospital - Rochester, NY
• Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast - Concord, NC
• MeritCare Hospital - Fargo, ND
• Altru Hospital - Grand Forks, ND
• Riverside Methodist Hospital - Columbus, OH
• Firelands Regional Medical Center - Sandusky, OH
• Mount Carmel - Columbus, OH
• Mercy Medical Center - Canton, OH
• St. John West Shore Hospital - Westlake, OH
• Bethesda North Hospital - Cincinnati, OH
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center - Portland, OR
• Hamot Medical Center - Erie, PA
• PinnacleHealth - Harrisburg, PA
• Robert Packer Hospital - Sayre, PA
• Centra Health - Lynchburg, VA
• St. Mary’s Hospital - Richmond, VA
• Aspirus Wausau Hospital - Wausau, WI
• Saint Joseph’s Hospital - Marshfield, WI
• Gundersen Lutheran Health System - La Crosse, WI

Community Hospitals (30 winners)

• Thomas Hospital - Fairhope, AL
• Arrowhead Hospital - Glendale, AZ
• Tucson Heart Hospital - Tucson, AZ
• Arizona Heart Hospital - Phoenix, AZ
• Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian - Newport Beach, CA
• French Hospital Medical Center - San Luis Obispo, CA
• Munroe Regional Medical Center - Ocala, FL
• Venice Regional Medical Center - Venice, FL
• JFK Medical Center - Atlantis, FL
• Northwest Community Hospital - Arlington Heights, IL
• St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana - Indianapolis, IN
• The Indiana Heart Hospital - Indianapolis, IN
• Trinity Regional Medical Center - Fort Dodge, IA
• Saint Joseph-London - London, KY
• Western Baptist Hospital - Paducah, KY
• St. Joseph Medical Center - Towson, MD
• Fairview Southdale Hospital - Edina, MN
• Mercy Hospital - Coon Rapids, MN
• Medcenter One - Bismarck, ND
• Parma Community General Hospital - Parma, OH
• EMH Regional Medical Center - Elyria, OH
• Southwest General Health Center - Middleburg Heights, OH
• Oklahoma Heart Hospital - Oklahoma City, OK
• DuBois Regional Medical Center - DuBois, PA
• Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota - Sioux Falls, SD
• Heart Hospital of Austin - Austin, TX
• Harlingen Medical Center - Harlingen, TX
• Dixie Regional Medical Center- St. George, UT
• Providence Regional Medical Center Everett - Everett, WA
• Aurora BayCare Medical Center - Green Bay, WI

About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, the company says. It combines industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by a trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com

Posted Dec. 24, 2009