Dixie Regional named to Thomson Reuters Top 100 Hospitals: CV

For the second time, Thomson Reuters has named Dixie Regional Medical Center to the national list of 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks, 2009. The annual award is based on hospitals’ performance treating congestive heart failure and heart attacks. The 2009 winners were published in the November 16 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

Thomson Reuters’ annual study — 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks — examined the performance of 971 hospitals by analyzing clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous cardiovascular interventions (PCI) such as angioplasties.

“Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States, so we look for the hospitals that provide the best care,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs of Thomson Reuters. “These hospitals set the national standard for cardiovascular disease outcomes, process of care, efficiency, and lower costs. They deliver significant value to their communities.”

The study, in its 11th year, found that the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular winners have:

• 17 percent lower mortality rates for heart attack patients.
• 10 percent lower mortality rates for heart failure patients.
• 27 percent lower mortality for bypass surgery patients.
• 22 percent lower mortality following PCI.
• Fewer post-operative complications — 99 percent of patients were complication-free.
• Close to 12 percent shorter average hospital stay.
• 12 percent lower cost per case.

“We are honored to be included in the top 100 hospitals list,” said Terri Kane, CEO/Administrator for Dixie Regional Medical Center. “This prestigious recognition has been awarded to our hospital because of the unwavering commitment to teamwork and best practice medicine. Congratulations go to our cardiovascular care team which crosses more than 30 departments of the hospital and to our top notch physicians including our heart surgeons, cardiologists, emergency physicians, intensivists, internists, family practice doctors, and anesthesiologists. Our goal is to be the best hospital in the country.”

The 100 Top Hospitals study focused on short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2008 Medicare cost reports, and data from other sources. They scored hospitals in key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost.

The measures were calculated for three classes of hospitals 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

Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. For more information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research go to www.100tophospitals.com.