Accolade just the latest among honors for SMH
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) has been recognized among the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals® in an independent quality analysis provided by Premier Inc. and published in Modern Healthcare on Feb. 3, the health care system has announced.
“The prestigious list, shared during American Heart Month, is based on an analysis of publicly available data from nearly 1,000 acute-care hospitals,” as well as a review of the “cardiac-related care they provided to Medicare patients from 2021 through 2024,” an SMH news release explains. “The study spotlights 50 ‘outstanding’ U.S. hospitals that delivered better results across all 21 measures, including medical management and surgical outcomes, extended outcomes, and patient experience,” the release adds.
According to the 2026 report, SMH and other top-performing hospitals have the following:
- “Better survival rates —Top facilities had significantly higher inpatient survival rates (24-56%) across all patient groups — heart attacks, heart failure, cardiac bypass and coronary angioplasty.
- “Fewer complications — Patients undergoing cardiac bypass and angioplasty at top hospitals had shorter hospital stays and lower complications.
- “Fewer readmissions — Patients treated at top hospitals had lower 30-day readmission rates. as well as higher 30-day survival rates.
- “Better patient experience,” as shown in the Patients’ Perspectives of Care Surveys.
- “Lower costs —Top hospitals showed lower average costs per patient case in all patient groups. The most notable difference was in the heart failure patient group,” with a 19.6% difference (“$9,859 versus $12,264, respectively).”
The news release emphasizes, “These outcomes add up to meaningful differences”: “ ‘If all U.S. hospitals’ cardiovascular service lines performed at the level of these study winners, more than 14,300 additional lives and over $2.0 billion could be saved, and over 27,300 additional bypass and angioplasty patients could be complication-free,’ ” the 2026 report says.
“SMH-Sarasota was the only hospital in the Tampa Bay region that made this year’s list,” the report makes clear. David Verinder, CEO of Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, said in the release that “the recognition belongs to every member of Sarasota Memorial’s heart team,” as well as the many clinicians and staff members who help support SMH’s safe, high-quality care.
“This recognition is a testament to our highly skilled cardiac team and the excellent outcomes they achieve for our patients,” Verinder added in the release. “But it also reflects our organization’s culture and deeply rooted public mission to deliver 5-star care to our community,” he pointed out.
“Sarasota Memorial’s recognition in the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals list adds to a growing list of accolades” that Sarasota Memorial has received for quality and safety from independent rating organizations, including U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, Forbes, Leapfrog Group and HealthGrades, the release notes. “In U.S. News’ 2025-2026 rankings, SMH was recognized among the best hospitals for more than 20 types of care, including six of the most common cardiac conditions and procedures — aortic valve surgery, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, TAVR [transcatheter aortic valve replacement], heart attack, heart bypass surgery and heart failure,” the release continues.
“SMH also is the only hospital in Florida that has consistently earned the highest 5-star rating from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services since the federal government started the overall star quality rating program in 2016,” the release adds.
“Hospitals evaluated in the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study were ranked within peer groups based on bed size and teaching status,” the release explains: “teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs (302), teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency programs (348) and community hospitals (206).”
For more information or to view the full rankings, visit www.modernhealthcare.com/awards/mh-premier-100-top-hospitals-2026.