This annual study identifies the nation's top providers of cardiovascular service, using the two most recent years of data.

View the complete list of Cardiovascular award winners.
Download the 2008 Cardiovascular Study Abstract.

Findings
Based on comparisons between the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Hospitals and a peer group limited to similar high-volume hospitals, we estimate that:

• If peer hospitals (non-winners) provided the same quality of care as the 100 Top Hospitals, survival rates would increase by nearly 6,000 patients each year.
• Complications of care could also decrease in peer hospitals; 720 additional patients could be complication-free.

In this year's study publication, we:

• Present new research showing what the leaders of top-performing cardio hospitals say they do to succeed.
• Display data for complete hospital performance reporting. This expands the 100 Top Hospitals benchmark analysis to provide positive performance data to share with hospitals' communities, and complements traditional benchmarks used for internal performance improvement.
• Provide performance measure data, identifying differences between benchmark hospitals and their peers.

Methods
This study focuses on general and applicable specialty, short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals. In this study, we focused on hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients, including those undergoing:

1. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI)
2. Heart failure (HF)
3. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
4. Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)

The data come from public sources — the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data set, the Medicare Cost Report, and the CMS Hospital Compare data set. We assign each hospital to one of three peer groups according to its teaching and residency program status:

• Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residency Programs
• Teaching Hospitals without Cardiovascular Residency Programs
• Community Hospitals

The performance measures used in the 2008 study are:

1. Risk-Adjusted Medical (AMI and HF) Patient Mortality Index
2. Risk-Adjusted Surgical (PCI and CABG) Patient Mortality Index
3. Risk-Adjusted Complications Index (includes post-operative hemorrhages and post-operative infections)
4. Core Measures Score (includes AMI and HF core measures)
5. Percentage of CABG Patients with Internal Mammary Artery Use
6. Procedure Volume Threshold
7. Severity-Adjusted Average Length of Stay
8. Severity- and Wage-Adjusted Cost per Case

For full details, download the 2008 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular study abstract or click here to order a softbound copy.

Make the 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular study work for you:

Want to see how your hospital scored on the 100 Top Hospitals measures? Order a Results Report to see how you compare.

To understand how your hospital's five-year performance improvement compares with your peers, order a Performance Improvement Leaders Report.

To understand what a 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success award means, download the brochure A Guide to the 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular Award.

For more information, email the 100 Top Hospitals Coordinator at healthcare.pubs@thomsonreuters.com or call us at (800) 568-3282 (option #3).