Set Cardiovascular Benchmarks Second Year in a Row

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 13, 2009
Contact: Media Relations
508-793-5726
media@umassmemorial.org

WORCESTER - For the second straight year, UMass Memorial Medical Center has earned a spot in the Thomson Reuters annual study identifying the 100 U.S. hospitals that set the nation's benchmarks for inpatient cardiovascular care. UMass Memorial is one of six hospitals in Massachusetts to be recognized.

"This distinction recognizes our unwavering commitment to provide the highest level of heart and vascular care at UMass Memorial," said Walter Ettinger, MD, president of UMass Memorial Medical Center. "It is a tribute to the entire heart and vascular teams' collaborative efforts to care for patients in Central Massachusetts with complex heart conditions."

This award comes on the heels of UMass Memorial being named the number one hospital in Massachusetts and New England for surviving a heart attack according to a recent report by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). UMass Memorial also ranks among the top five hospitals nationwide for surviving a heart attack for a second year in a row.

"It is with great pride that we continue to be recognized as a national leader for achieving excellent clinical outcomes for the critically ill patients for whom we provide care," said Robert Phillips, MD, PhD, director of the UMass Memorial Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence (http://www.heartrighthere.org/), senior vice president at UMass Memorial Medical Center, and professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Dr. Phillips noted that the consistently outstanding record of quality performance by the Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence has been recognized by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons with its highest designation of achievement for three years in a row.

The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals for Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study 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.

The study, in its 11th year, found that these hospitals 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 percutaneous coronary interventions
• Fewer post-operative complications (99 percent of patients were complication-free)
• Close to 12 percent shorter average hospital stay12 percent lower cost per case

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

Thomson Reuters ranks providers using the two most recent years of data from public sources including the CMS Hospital Compare data set using a balanced scorecard of eight tested performance measures to identify hospitals that adhere to basic processes of care standards, demonstrate good outcomes at a reasonable cost, are efficiently managed and meet or exceed minimum volume requirements for cardiovascular procedures.