St. David’s Medical Center Among 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals

AUSTIN, TEXAS — St. David’s Medical Center, including Heart Hospital of Austin, was named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by IBM Watson Health, officials announced Monday.

This marks the fifth year the combined hospital campuses have earned the distinction, officials noted. Prior to being consolidated under St. David’s Medical Center, Heart Hospital of Austin was recognized with this honor six times.

St. David’s Medical Center, including Heart Hospital of Austin, is one of three Texas hospitals to earn this designation and the only hospital in Austin to be recognized this year, according to a press advisory. Hospital officials noted the designation is especially significant because 30 of this year’s top 50 cardiovascular hospitals were teaching hospitals, and only 20 were non-teaching hospitals, including St. David’s Medical Center.

Related story: St. David's HealthCare Facilities In Austin Region Earn 'A' Grade

“We are honored to be recognized among the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the nation once again, as it underscores our commitment to providing the highest level of cardiovascular care,” David Huffstutler, chief executive officer of St. David’s HealthCare, said in a prepared statement. “This designation is the direct result of the dedication of our physicians, nurses and staff.”

The Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study uses 2016 and 2017 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2017 Medicare cost reports (2016 if 2017 reports were not available) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare data published in the second quarter of 2018.

Hospitals were scored in key value-based performance areas: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, 30-day mortality rates, 30-day readmission rates, severity-adjusted average length of stay, wage- and severity-adjusted average cost per case and, new this year, CMS 30-day episode payment measures.

Extrapolating the study's findings, if all cardiovascular providers in the U.S. performed at the level of this year's winners (based on Medicare patients only), results industry-wide could amount to: over 10,300 additional lives saved, $1.8 billionsaved, and 2,800 additional bypass and angioplasty patients could be complication-free," Watson Health officials said in a press advisory.

Among the key performance benchmarks set by this year's Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals are:

• Higher Inpatient Survival Rates: Winning hospitals had significantly higher inpatient survival rates (27.7 to 46.8 percent higher).
• Fewer Complications: The 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals achieved 16.1 to 24.2 percent fewer patient complications.
• Shorter Length of Stay: Average length-stay for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients was nearly one day lower (0.8) and 0.4 days lower for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in winning hospitals.
• Lower Cost: Winning hospitals delivered care for an average of $7,812 less per bypass surgery and $1,635 to $3,582less for HF, AMI, and PCI inpatient stays; as well as demonstrating lower average 30-day episode of care payments for AMI and HF ($1,208 and $883, respectively).
• Lower Readmission Rates: Readmission rates for AMI and CABG were 0.6, and HF 0.7 percentage points lower in winning hospitals than non-winning hospitals.

The winning Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals were classified into three comparison groups, Watson Health officials noted. Two other Texas medical facilities — Longview Regional Medical Center in Longview and Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo — were included among the 50 best list.

The order of hospitals in the following list does not reflect performance ranking:

Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residency Programs

• Duke Regional Hospital – Durham, NCLahey Hospital & Medical Center – Burlington, MA
• Maimonides Medical Center – Brooklyn, NY
• Mayo Clinic Hospital - Saint Marys Hospital – Rochester, MN
• McLaren Macomb Hospital – Mount Clemens, MI
• New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital – Brooklyn, NY
• New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital – Flushing, NY
• NorthShore University HealthSystem – Evanston, IL
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital – Chicago, IL
• OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital – Columbus, OH
• Rhode Island Hospital – Providence, RI
• Southside Hospital – Bay Shore, NY
• St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital – Indianapolis, IN
• Tulane Medical Center – New Orleans, LA
• Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center – Winston-Salem, NC

Teaching Hospitals without Cardiovascular Residency Programs

• Aspirus Wausau Hospital – Wausau, WI
• Centra Health – Lynchburg, VA
• Central Maine Medical Center – Lewiston, ME
• Cone Health – Greensboro, NC
• Decatur Memorial Hospital – Decatur, IL
• Grand Strand Medical Center – Myrtle Beach, SC
• Holston Valley Medical Center – Kingsport, TN
• Lee Memorial Hospital/HealthPark Medical Center (LMH/HPMC) – Fort Myers, FL
• MacNeal Hospital – Berwyn, IL
• Mission Hospital – Asheville, NC
• PIH Health Hospital – Whittier – Whittier, CA
• Sacred Heart Hospital – Pensacola, FL
• Saint Thomas West Hospital – Nashville, TN
• St. Joseph Mercy Hospital – Ann Arbor, MI
• St. Luke's Boise Medical Center – Boise, ID
• Community Hospitals Bellin Health – Green Bay, WI
• Carolinas Medical Center Mercy-Pineville – Charlotte, NC
• Doylestown Hospital – Doylestown, PA
• Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center – Knoxville, TN
• Longview Regional Medical Center – Longview, TX
• Mary Washington Hospital – Fredericksburg, VA
• McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital – Petoskey, MI
• Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge – Oak Ridge, TN
• Oklahoma Heart Hospital North Campus – Oklahoma City, OK
• Presbyterian Hospital – Albuquerque, NM
• Reid Health – Richmond, IN
• Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center – Reno, NV
• Salem Hospital – Salem, OR
• Shannon Medical Center – San Angelo, TX
• Shasta Regional Medical Center – Redding, CA
• St. David's Medical Center – Austin, TX
• St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana – Indianapolis, IN
• UNC Rex Healthcare – Raleigh, NC
• University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center – Towson, MD
• Wake Forest Baptist Health High Point Medical Center – High Point, NC
• The winning hospitals were announced in the Nov. 5 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine.

About St. David’s Medical Center

St. David’s Medical Center, which is part of St. David’s HealthCare, is a full-service medical center offering comprehensive medical care at three locations—St. David’s Medical Center, Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital. Located in Central Austin, St. David’s Medical Center includes a 374-bed acute care hospital and a 64-bed rehabilitation hospital providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care. It is home to the internationally renowned Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute and St. David’s Neuroscience & Spine Institute. The hospital provides a complete range of women’s services, including its acclaimed maternity unit, maternal-fetal medicine, a high-risk maternal and neonatal transport team, the region’s largest Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and The Breast Center; complex surgical services; a comprehensive Bariatric Surgery Center; and a 24-hour emergency department. In 2018, St. David’s Medical Center was named among the Top 50 Hospitals in the nation by Healthgrades.

About Heart Hospital of Austin

Heart Hospital of Austin, which is part of St. David’s HealthCare, is a 58-bed hospital and one of the highest performing cardiovascular facilities in the nation, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. It features a comprehensive 24-hour emergency department; an advanced Executive Wellness Program; five operating rooms (ORs), including two hybrid ORs; three catheterization labs; and two electrophysiology labs. It is home to one of the largest non-academic cardiovascular research programs in the world.

About the IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals® Program

The IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals, formerly the Truven Health Analytics 100 Top Hospitals, program uses independent and objective research to analyze hospital and health system performance. Organizations do not apply or pay for this honor or pay to promote their award. Award-winning hospitals and health systems prove that better care is possible and provide an example for other organizations to follow across the industry. The 100 Top Hospitals award winners demonstrate top performance on both how patients are cared for under clinical measures and how the hospital performs as an efficient business. 100 Top Hospitals is a registered trademark of Truven Health Analytics, part of the IBM Watson Health business. Visit 100tophospitals.com for more information.

About IBM Watson Health

Watson Health is a business unit of IBM that is dedicated to the development and implementation of cognitive and data-driven technologies to advance health. Watson Health technologies are tackling a wide range of the world's biggest healthcare challenges including cancer, diabetes, drug discovery and more. Learn more at ibm.com/watson/health.

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