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Sustaining Excellence in All Aspects of Cardiac Care Rare But Lives Could Be Saved If More Patients Were Treated at Top-Performing Hospitals

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 April 2009, 07:05 CDT

Cardiac Data Solutions conducting further research to identify which processes of care differentiate top-performing hospitals

ATLANTA, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- While sustained excellence in cardiac care is rare, hospitals that excel in all three major areas of cardiac care -- acute myocardial infarction (AMI), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) -- have more cardiac patient admissions and lower average risk-adjusted mortality rates. That according to new research funded and conducted by Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. and presented at the American Heart Association's 10th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

Thirty-six out of 643 hospitals studied were ranked as top-performing hospitals, meaning they scored in the top quartile for all three services in at least one of the study years and no lower than the second quartile in the other two years. These hospitals treated approximately 20 percent more heart patients and saved more lives across all three services during the study period than the 29 lowest-performing hospitals. Five facilities were ranked in the top quartile (for lives saved) for all three years. The researchers studied the average risk-adjusted mortality rates among Medicare beneficiary patients treated between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2007 (FY 2005, 2006 and 2007). According to the researchers, if patients treated at lower-performing hospitals had been treated at the top-performing institutions, the lives of more than 700 patients per year could have been saved.

Cardiac Data Solutions is conducting further research to understand the processes and protocols of care that are in place in top-performing hospitals compared to all other hospitals. Top-performing hospitals will be invited to complete an online electronic survey, which will be administered through http://www.cardiacdatasolutions.com. Other hospitals interested in participating in the research and completing the electronic survey are invited to contact Cardiac Data Solutions. The survey will serve as a teaching tool with examples of evidence-based processes and protocols available for all participating hospitals.

"Further study will help us understand what the top-performing hospitals are doing to achieve consistently lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, which in turn can provide guidance to other hospitals to improve their clinical outcomes," says April Simon, RN, MSN, one of the researchers and founder of Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc.

In addition to Simon, researchers included: Phillip P. Brown, MD, cardiovascular surgeon (retired) and past chairman, Department of Surgery, Centennial Medical Center; Aaron Kugelmass, MD, director, Heart and Vascular Center, Baystate Medical Center; Matthew R. Reynolds, MD, electrophysiologist and director, Economics and Quality of Life Core Lab, Harvard Clinical Research Institute; David J. Cohen, MD, interventional cardiologist and director, Cardiovascular Research, Mid America Heart Institute, St. Luke's Hospital; and Steven D. Culler, PhD, associate professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University.

About Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. (CDS)

Founded in 1999, Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. (CDS) provides consultation services, data analysis, clinical benchmarks, management tools, research support services and leadership training to hospitals, physicians, payors, manufacturers and the financial community. CDS is focused solely on the cardiovascular market with the primary mission of supporting and improving clinical and business decisions to improve the quality of patient care. Using a proprietary data analysis tool with comprehensive and current data on clinical outcomes, CDS helps identify opportunities for improvement and develop evidence-based strategies to achieve them.

CONTACT: Karen Conway 303-564-2147 719-488-0359 kmcassociates@aol.com

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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