St. Luke's named a Top 100 Heart Hospital
November 19, 2008
St. Luke’s Hospital has been named one of the nation’s Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospitals for the second year in a row. St. Luke’s is the only hospital in eastern Iowa to earn this distinction. This is the third time St. Luke’s Hospital has been named a Top 100 Heart Hospital.
The list, which was published in Nov. 17 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine, was based on a study by Thomson Reuters, an independent health research organization.
The 100 hospitals chosen are those setting the nation’s benchmarks for cardiovascular care. Thomson Reuters performs this study annually to share new standards and enable other hospitals to improve their cardiovascular performance. This year, Thomson Reuters examined the performance of 970 hospitals by analyzing public Medicare data of patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks, and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and angioplasties.
The study, in its tenth year, found that the 100 top hospitals, as a group, performed 63 percent more bypass surgeries and 42 percent more angioplasties than peer hospitals. While the average mortality rate for cardiovascular patients is very low (3.4 percent), the mortality rate for bypass surgery was 26 percent lower in the Top 100 Heart Hospital winners. The award-winning hospitals demonstrated higher performance on the evidence-based core measures published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and cost $1,542 less per case, on average.
Only two other hospitals in the state received this award, Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa in Mason City and Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge.
MEDIA CONTACT: Sarah Corizzo, St. Luke’s Hospital, 319/369-8372 or 319/560-2385.
