Christ Hospital, University Hospital Named Among 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals
Contact :Erika Turan (513) 585-7200
Cincinnati-Today, The Christ Hospital and The University Hospital were named among the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the nation by Solucient, a leading health care information content company. Solucient produces the yearly 100 Top Hospitals: Benchmarks for Success study, used by hospitals across the country as a target for performance.
In 1999, Solucient expanded its bench marks program to include high risk, high cost, and high volume hospital service lines. For the fourth consecutive year, Christ Hospital has made the list, the only local hospital to do so. This marks the third time University Hospital has been named to the list.
The data used in the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study is from Solucient's hospital-specific databases. The information is drawn from over 6,000 U.S. acute care and specialty hospitals. The primary sources of these data are the Medicare cost report and the publicly available Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR).
According to Solucient, compared with their peers, the 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals:
have better clinical outcomes in terms of mortality and complications
have lower costs
maintain shorter lengths of stay
appear to be technologically and clinically advanced in terms of the usage of stents and internal mammary artery grafts.
The ultimate goal of the study is to provide guidelines that will help all hospitals improve the standard of care in treating cardiovascular disease.
Heart disease remains the number one cause of death in the United States, killing one-half million people every year. According to Solucient, if non-winners provided the same quality of care as the 100 Top hospitals:
the lives of nearly 4,400 patients could be saved each year.
nearly $880 million could be saved annually.
infections after surgery could plummet nearly 18 percent.
on average, cardiovascular patients could return home more than a half day sooner.
Solucient's estimates are based on comparisons with a peer group of similar hospitals.
"Making the Solucient list of 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals represents a remarkable achievement for Christ and University. It's even more significant given the reputation of Solucient and the objective data used to compile the list," said Creighton Wright, M.D., medical director of cardiovascular services for the Health Alliance.
"We are very proud to once again have Health Alliance hospitals recognized for their heart services," said Jeffery Morneault, vice president of cardiovascular services for the Health Alliance.
"I know how hard our cardiovascular teams of physicians, nurses, and other professionals work to provide the best care possible to our heart patients, and I am glad their skill and dedication continues to be recognized."
The Christ Hospital was named among the top 50 heart hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report earlier this year. In 2003, the $77 million Heart Center of Greater Cincinnati at The Christ Hospital will open. Christ Hospital performs more open-heart surgeries and interventional cardiology procedures every year than any other hospital in the Tristate.
The University Hospital is home to the Tristate's only adult heart transplant program, and is internationally renowned for its heart failure research. As reported in the Oct. 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at University Hospital and the University of Cincinnati announced a discovery of a genetic marker for heart failure in some African-Americans. The University Hospital recently recruited Walter H. Merrill, M.D., from Vanderbilt University, to direct the cardiac transplant program. Dr. Merrill is a nationally-recognized cardiothoracic surgeon.
For more information about the Health Alliance heart services, visit www.besthearthealth.com.
The Health Alliance is an integrated health care delivery system that includes The Christ Hospital, The University Hospital, The St. Luke Hospitals, The Jewish Hospital, The Fort Hamilton Hospital and the physicians of Alliance Primary Care. To view other Health Alliance news releases, go to www.health-alliance.com/pressroom.
