Thomson Reuters has released its annual study identifying the 100 U.S. hospitals that deliver significantly better outcomes and lower costs for inpatient cardiovascular care.
"100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks" examined the performance of 971 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous cardiovascular interventions (PCI) such as angioplasties.
The study, in its 11th year, evaluated short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. It found that these hospitals have 17 percent lower mortality rates for heart attack patients and 10 percent lower mortality rates for heart failure patients.
The top hospitals also have 27 percent lower mortality for bypass surgery patients, 22 percent lower mortality following PCI and fewer post-operative complications (99 percent of patients were complication-free).
These hospitals performed more than 50 percent more cardiac surgeries than peer hospitals.
The top performing hospitals also stood tall financially. They averaged close to 12 percent shorter average hospital stays and12 percent lower costs per case.
Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2008 Medicare cost reports and data from other sources. They classified hospitals into three comparison groups and scored them 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.
The 2009 winners are listed on the following page. (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, Ariz.
Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Fla.
Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Ill.
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge, Ill.
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Ill.
St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, Indianapolis, Ind.
Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa, Mason City, Iowa
Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine
Caritas St. Elizabeth's Medical Center, Boston
Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Mass.
Lahey Clinic Medical Center, Burlington, Mass.
Providence Hospital and Medical Center, Southfield, Mich.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H.
Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, N.J.
Albany Medical Center, Albany, N.Y.
Staten Island University Hospital, Staten Island, N.Y.
Kettering Medical Center, Kettering, Ohio
The Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, Ohio
Grandview Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio
Good Samaritan Hospital, Cincinnati
Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pa.
UPMC Passavant. Pittsburgh
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn.
Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, Texas
Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington, Vt.
University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va.
University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, Wis.
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee
Teaching Hospitals Without Cardiovascular Residency Programs (40 winners)
Mercy Medical Center Redding, Redding, Calif.
St. Mary's Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Grand Junction, Col.
Morton Plant Hospital, Clearwater, Fla.
St. Luke's Boise Medical Center, Boise, Idaho
St. John's Hospital, Springfield, Ill.
Memorial Hospital of Carbondale, Carbondale, Ill.
Ball Memorial Hospital, Muncie, Ind.
Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa
Rapides Regional Medical Center, Alexandria, La.
North Shore Medical Center, Lynn, Mass.
St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, Pontiac, Mich.
Spectrum Health Hospitals, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Henry Ford Macomb Hospitals, Clinton Township, Mich.
Marquette General Hospital, Marquette, Mich.
Munson Medical Center, Traverse City, Mich.
St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich.
St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital, Warren, Mich.
William Beaumont Hospital-Troy, Troy, Mich.
Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, St. Louis Park, Minn.
Billings Clinic, Billings, Mont.
St. Peter's Hospital, Albany, N.Y.
Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, N.Y.
Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast, Concord, N.C.
MeritCare Hospital, Fargo, N.D.
Altru Hospital, Grand Forks, N.D.
Riverside Methodist Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
Firelands Regional Medical Center, Sandusky, Ohio
Mount Carmel, Columbus, Ohio
Mercy Medical Center, Canton, Ohio
St. John West Shore Hospital, Westlake, Ohio
Bethesda North Hospital, Cincinnati
Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, Portland, Ore.
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, Wis.
Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield, Wis.
Gundersen Lutheran Health System, La Crosse, Wis.
Community Hospitals (30 winners)
Thomas Hospital. Fairhope, Ala.
Arrowhead Hospital, Glendale, Ariz.
Tucson Heart Hospita, Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona Heart Hospital, Phoenix, Ariz.
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, Calif.
French Hospital Medical Center, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Munroe Regional Medical Center, Ocala, Fla.
Venice Regional Medical Center, Venice, Fla.
JFK Medical Center, Atlantis, Fla.
Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Ill.
St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana, Indianapolis, Ind.
The Indiana Heart Hospital, Indianapolis, Ind.
Trinity Regional Medical Center, Fort Dodge, Iowa
Saint Joseph-London, London, Ky.
Western Baptist Hospital, Paducah, Ky.
St. Joseph Medical Center, Towson, Md.
Fairview Southdale Hospital, Edina, Minn.
Mercy Hospita, Coon Rapids, Minn.
Medcenter One, Bismarck, N.D.
Parma Community General Hospital, Parma, Ohio
EMH Regional Medical Center, Elyria, Ohio
Southwest General Health Center, Middleburg Heights, Ohio
Oklahoma Heart Hospital, Oklahoma City, Okla.
DuBois Regional Medical Center, DuBois, Pa.
Avera Heart Hospital of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Heart Hospital of Austin, Austin, Texas
Harlingen Medical Center, Harlingen, Texas
Dixie Regional Medical Center, St. George, Utah
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Everett, Wash.
Aurora BayCare Medical Center, Green Bay, Wis.