WHAT IS IT?
The ninth edition of the Thomson 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 Thomson Healthcare.

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?
The study was released on Nov. 19, 2007.

WHICH HOSPITALS WON?
For a complete list of winners, click here.

HOW WERE THE WINNERS CHOSEN?
Thomson Healthcare assigned each hospital in the study group to one of three comparison groups. Within the comparison groups, each hospital was ranked on the basis of its performance on each of eight major performance measures using 2006 Medicare cost reports and 2005 and 2006 MedPAR data. Thomson Healthcare 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. For more details on methodology, click here.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE KEY FINDINGS?
Based on comparisons between the Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks Hospitals and a peer group limited to similar high-volume hospitals, Thomson Healthcare estimates that:

• If peer hospitals (non-winners) provided the same quality of care as the 100 Top Hospitals, survival rates would increase by more than 7,000 patients each year.
• Complications of care could also decrease in peer hospitals. Nearly 750 additional patients could be complication-free.
• The average 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular winner meets the recommended core measures standards for 89 percent of their CHF patients, compared with 84 percent at the average peer, or non-winning, hospital. Similar differences were seen for AMI patients.
• The winning hospitals performed nearly two-thirds more coronary bypass surgeries than their peers in 2005 and 2006. A variety of previously published findings show that volume is an important correlate with outcomes for cardiovascular patients.

This year's study publication:

• Presents new research showing that although survival is improving for hospital inpatients overall, post-discharge mortality rates for heart attack and heart failure patients appear to be on the rise.
• Displays data for complete hospital performance reporting. This expands the 100 Top Hospitals benchmark analysis to provide positive performance data to share with hospitals' communities, and complements traditional benchmarks used for internal performance improvement.
• Provides performance measure data, identifying differences between benchmark hospitals and their peers.

CAN I GET A COPY OF THE COMPLETE STUDY?
Yes. For a complimentary study abstract, click here.
Winners: You can log in and view it online by clicking here.

WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?
Media inquiries should be made to David Wilkins at (734) 913-3397 or david.wilkins@thomson.com. For all other inquiries, please click here.