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 The annual study — 2008 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success — examined the performance of 970 hospitals by analyzing clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and angioplasties. This is the third time St. Elizabeth Health Center has been recognized with this honor. The 2008 winners were announced November 17 in Modern Healthcare magazine. “Our priority is to provide the best care possible, and it’s rewarding to have that recognized. It’s also a credit to our employees and physicians – it exemplifies their dedication and hard work,” says Bob Shroder, president and CEO, Humility of Mary Health Partners. The study, in its tenth year, found that the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular award winners, as a group, performed 63 percent more bypass surgeries and 42 percent more angioplasties than peer hospitals. This may suggest that performance of bypass surgery is increasingly performed in centers of excellence. While the average mortality rate for cardiovascular patients is very low (3.4 percent), the mortality rate for bypass surgery was 26 percent lower in the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular winners. The award-winning hospitals demonstrated higher performance on the evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and cost $1,542 less per case, on average. “We are extremely pleased to receive the 100 Top Hospital designation for a second year.” says Timothy Hunter, M.D., director of cardiothoracic surgery at St. Elizabeth. “The award is based on an independent review of patients' outcome data, and it reflects a tremendous partnership between nurses, physicians and all involved in the care of the cardiac surgical patient.” The advanced cardiac surgery suites, cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs and dedicated cardiac inpatient units at St. Elizabeth provide some of the region’s most sophisticated care. A multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses and clinical specialists stand ready to provide exceptional care including heart and vascular surgical procedures, catheterizations, electrophysiology services, interventional cardiology, non-invasive diagnostic services, comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation and congestive heart failure management. “These hospitals provide enormous value to their communities because heart disease is still the nation’s number one killer. They have set the new national standard for cardiovascular disease outcomes, process of care, efficiency, and lower costs,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs in the Healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.
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