Christ Hospital and University Hospital Recognized as 100 Top Heart Hospitals

Contact: Erika Turan (513) 585-7200
Date: 10/27/2003

The Christ Hospital and The University Hospital are the only hospitals in the Tristate to be named to Solucient's 100 Top Heart Hospitals 2003 list. This marks the fifth consecutive year Christ Hospital was named to the list, and the fourth time for University Hospital. Now in its fifth year, the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study identifies hospitals that are setting benchmark levels of performance for cardiovascular services throughout the nation. The data 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 the study. The data sets used for the 100 Top Hospitals Studies represents more than 6,000 U.S. hospitals and more than 12 million patient discharges. The study focuses on hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients, including those undergoing: º acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack (AMI) º congestive heart failure (CHF) º percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) º coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) Within the 100 Top Heart Hospitals list, there are three comparison groups into which hospitals are grouped for comparison with their peers. University Hospital is included in the group of Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residency Programs. Christ Hospital is included in the group of Teaching Hospitals without Cardiovascular Residency Programs. The third group is Community Hospitals. According to Solucient, if all Medicare inpatients received the same level of care as those in this year's 100 top cardiovascular hospitals list: º an additional 4,000 patients could survive each year. º nearly 1,400 patient complications would be avoided annually. More information about the award is available at www.100tophospitals.com. The Christ Hospital and The University Hospital are part of the Health Alliance, an integrated health care delivery system that also includes 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.