Cincinnati - The Christ Hospital has been named among the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the nation by Solucient, a leading health care information content company. The Christ Hospital has been named to this list eight times

Solucient produces the yearly 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study, used by hospitals across the country as a target for performance. This report identifies industry benchmarks and recognizes hospitals and their management teams that demonstrate superior clinical, operational and financial performance in cardiovascular service.

"We are pleased to be honored again for our clinical expertise, excellent survival rates and positive outcomes in the specialized field of cardiovascular care," said Susan Croushore, executive director and senior vice president, The Christ Hospital.

The data used in the 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study comes from Solucient's hospital database and the publicly available Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data set. Data from the hospital database is used in calculating all the financial measures for this study. The data sets used for this study represent more than 6,000 U.S. hospitals and more than 12 million patient discharges. To ensure that the hospitals were evaluated against similar hospitals, each was placed into one of three peer groups: Teaching Hospital With Cardiovascular Residency Program; Teaching Hospital Without Cardiovascular Residency Program; and Community Hospital. The Christ Hospital was placed in the "Teaching Hospital Without Cardiovascular Residency Program" category.

More information about the award is available at www.100tophospitals.com or at www.solucient.com.

The Christ Hospital is part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system that also includes The University Hospitals, The St. Luke Hospitals, The Jewish Hospital, Fort Hamilton Hospital, Drake Center, West Chester Medical Center and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care. To view other Health Alliance news releases, go to www.health-alliance.com/pressroom.

-30-