Fast Facts:
Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success — 2003

WHAT IS IT?

The 2003 Solucient 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study identifies industry benchmarks by recognizing U.S. heart hospitals that demonstrate superior performance. For details, click here.

WHO CONDUCTED THE STUDY?

The study is presented by Solucient, an Evanston, IL-based provider of comprehensive health care information for providers, payers, employers, and pharmaceutical companies.

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?

The study was released on Oct. 27, 2003

WHICH HOSPITALS WON?

For a complete list of winners, click here.

HOW WERE THE WINNERS CHOSEN?

We assigned each hospital in the study group to one of three comparison groups. Seven performance measure values for each hospital within each comparison group were calculated using year 2001 Medicare cost reports and MEDPAR data. Within the comparison groups, we ranked hospitals on the basis of their performance on each of the seven measures relative to other hospitals in their group. We then summed each hospital's performance-measure ranking to arrive at a total ranking for the hospital. The hospitals with the best total ranking in each comparison group were selected as the benchmarks.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS?

• Winning or “benchmark” heart hospitals named to the 100 Top Hospitals list provided coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients with IMA grafts at a rate nearly four percentage points higher than peer or “non-winning” hospitals (87.4 percent versus 83.6 percent). The IMA heart bypass technique, which has been recognized in medical studies for significantly improving survival rates and lowering complications, requires surgeons to create detours around blockages in coronary arteries by using internal mammary arteries located under the chest wall, instead of more commonly used leg veins. One research team recently referred to this method as the “gold standard.”

• If all acute care heart hospitals performed at the same level as the nation’s top heart hospitals, survival rates for cardiovascular patients could increase by 4,000 patients each year and an additional 1,400 patients could be complication-free.

• The mortality rate for congestive heart failure at benchmark hospitals is nearly 17 percent lower than at non-winning hospitals, while the mortality rate for acute myocardial infarction, or heart attack, at benchmark hospitals is nearly nine percent lower than at peer hospitals.

• Top hospitals have almost 19 percent lower mortality rates for CABG or coronary balloon angioplasty surgery than peer hospitals.

• Winning hospitals are approximately 20 percent less likely than non-winners to have complications related to post-operative infections and hemorrhage for heart patients

• Cardiovascular Patients at winning hospitals return to everyday life faster than those at non-winning hospitals. Patients at the top heart hospitals were released a half-day earlier than patients at peer hospitals.

• Average cardiovascular-related costs for benchmark hospitals were nearly 11 percent lower than at peer hospitals.

CAN I GET A COPY OF THE COMPLETE STUDY?

Yes. Members of the media can receive exclusive copies of the study simply by clicking here.

WHAT WAS THE BREAKDOWN OF WINNERS BY CLASS?

The fifth edition of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study analyzed acute care hospitals nationwide in three classes with the following number of winners in each:

• Teaching with Cardiovascular Residency Programs - 30 winners
• Teaching without Cardiovascular Residency Programs - 40 winners
• Community - 30 winners

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?

All media inquiries should be made to Ginny Sexton at Solucient, (847)424-4358; gsexton@solucient.com.

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