Medical center’s cardiac program one of just three in U.S. and Canada to earn that distinction
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) is one of just three cardiac programs in the United States and Canada to earn the highest, 3-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) in assessments of patient care and outcomes, SMH has announced.
The ratings covered all five adult cardiac surgery procedures at SMH that STS measured in its latest analysis, a news release points out.
The categories follow:
- Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass (CABG).
- Isolated Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR).
- AVR + CABG.
- Isolated Mitral Valve Replacement/Repair (MVRR).
- MVRR + CABG.
The 3-star ratings place SMH’s cardiac surgery team “among the top performers of more than 3,800 participating cardiothoracic surgeons voluntarily submitting case records to the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database for analysis and comparison with benchmarking data for quality improvement initiatives,” the release adds.
The ratings posted in August are based on clinical data spanning multiple years: CABG (January 2017 through December 2018); and AVR, AVR/CABG, MVRR and MVRR/CABG (January 2016 through December 2018), the release notes.
“The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the outcomes of cardiac surgery programs in the United States, Canada and a growing number of international participants,” the release explains. Only three participating hospitals achieved the 3-star ratings across the board, according to the August 2019 results reported by STS, the release adds.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to maintain these high ratings,” Sarasota Memorial CEO David Verinder said in the release.
“The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons,” the release explains. “The database houses more than 6 million surgical records and gathers information from surgeons and anesthesiologists” from more than 90% of hospitals that perform heart surgery in the United States, the release points out.