For Immediate Release
July, 11, 2001
Contact: Maria Vazquez
(219) 865-2141, ext. 45321
Maria.Ramos@ssfhs.org

Hammond, Ind.—A recently released study named Saint Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers as one of the Solucient 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals. The strictly empirical analysis identifies those hospitals that have achieved excellence in care, efficiency of operations and sustainability of cardiovascular performance. Saint Margaret Mercy’s heart program is one of only two in Indiana that received this honor; the other is Memorial Hospital in South Bend..

The third annual study, “Solucient 100 Top Hospitals™: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success,” focused on hospitals that treat high volumes of heart attack patients and perform large numbers of specific cardiac-related procedures, such as bypass grafts and angioplasties.

“Saint Margaret Mercy’s recognition in the top 100 is a testament to the outstanding performance of Cardiovascular Services, Surgical Services and clinical staff to patients with heart attacks or undergoing angioplasty or coronary artery bypass procedures,” said Dr. Narayan Mulamalla, medical director of Cardiovascular Services at Saint Margaret Mercy.

The Solucient 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study found that top-performing facilities consistently outperform their peers, especially in terms of mortality and complication rates:

• Risk-adjusted mortality rates were as much as 27 percent lower for certain surgical procedures in top hospitals.
• Post-operative infection rates were an average 21 percent lower. Among top community hospitals, that rate was a full 34 percent lower.
• Risk-adjusted mortality rates for heart attack patients were an average 7 percent lower. In top community hospitals, the rate was 11 percent lower.

The study also found that if all hospitals in the study achieved the success levels of the Solucient top hospitals, each would save an average of $1.35 million annually among Medicare patients alone—an average of about $2,000 per cardiology case. Deaths from the procedures studied would drop 23 percent and post-operative mortality rates would drop 30 percent in peer hospitals.

The winners of the award are sorted in categories or peer groups that represent hospitals throughout the country, and include 25 teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs, 45 teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency programs, and 30 community hospitals. Saint Margaret Mercy was named in the teaching hospitals without a cardiovascular residency group.

The study analyzed the nation’s hospitals using empirical performance data from the publicly available Medicare Cost Reports and MedPAR. To establish a sample of hospitals that were relatively uniform in cardiac patient volume, the analysis was restricted to acute care, non-federal hospitals that met minimum volume criteria in 1998 and 1999:

• At least 100 reported Medicare cases of acute myocardial infarction
• At least 125 reported Medicare patients in the percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty diagnostic group
• At least 125 Medicare patients in the coronary artery bypass graft surgery group

For a list of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success winners and a summary of the report, visit www.100TopHospitals.com.

An article announcing the Solucient Top 100 Hospitals study, including a list of winners, is published in the July 2 issue of Modern Healthcare.

Solucient is the leading source of healthcare intelligence and benchmark information, powering healthcare decisions providers, payers, consultants, employers and pharmaceutical companies.