St. David's HealthCare facilities named among nation's 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals

Austin, Texas — St. David’s Medical Center (including Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital) today was identified among the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals® according to an independent quality analysis based on a balanced scorecard provided by Premier, Inc. and published by Modern Healthcare. Only 10 community hospitals made this year’s list. The St. David’s Medical Center consolidated entity, which includes St. David’s Georgetown Hospital and Heart Hospital of Austin, ranked No. 1 among the list of community hospitals.

This is the ninth consecutive year for St. David’s Medical Center (including Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital) to make the list.

“Being named among the nation’s top cardiovascular hospitals for nine consecutive years reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence, innovation and achieving the best possible outcomes for our patients,” David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David’s HealthCare, said. “Our physicians, nurses and care teams remain steadfast in their dedication to delivering exceptional cardiovascular care.”

To create the list, an objective, quantitative analysis of publicly available data was conducted to identify the top cardiovascular hospitals in the U.S. The primary purpose of Premier’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program is to inspire hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities. Organizations do not apply to participate in the study, and award winners do not pay to market their honor.

Performance of Hospitals Recognized on the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals List

Compared to peer hospitals, those in the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals delivered better results across all 21 measures, including clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, extended outcomes and patient experience.

Key national performance observations include:

• Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) inpatient mortality showed a 56% difference in index value between benchmark and peer hospitals (0.43 vs. 0.99, respectively).
• In complication measure results for the two surgical patient groups (CABG and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)), the PCI group outperformed the CABG group by a 10% difference (31.4% vs. 21.4%, respectively).
• The CMS Care Compare 30-day mortality measure for CABG patients had the largest difference between benchmark and peer hospitals (16%), with index values of 2.1 vs. 2.5, respectively.
• Average cost per case showed the most notable difference in the heart failure patient group, with a 19.6% difference ($9,859 vs. $12,264, respectively).

These outcomes add up to meaningful differences. According to the study’s analysis, if all U.S. hospitals’ cardiovascular service lines performed at the level of this year’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals, the impact could include over 14,000 additional lives potentially saved, more than 27,000 additional bypass and angioplasty patients experiencing fewer complications, and over $2 billion in potential savings.

More information about the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program.