Banner Good Samaritan chosen as one of U.S. 100 top cardiovascular hospitals
PHOENIX (October 31, 2005) – Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been chosen one of the nation's "100 Top Hospitals" for cardiovascular services in 2004, based on the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Study, 7th Edition.
The annual Solucient award for cardiovascular services objectively measures performance on key criteria at the nation's top performing acute-care hospitals. Solucient cited Banner Good Samaritan and other hospitals for its community access "to cardiovascular services for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart disease, coronary artery bypass graft and percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with outcomes at national benchmark levels."
Paul Mullings, Banner Good Samaritan CEO, offered his congratulations to all the Banner Good Samaritan staff and physicians who provide care to patients in need of medical and surgical cardiology care. "This award is well-deserved recognition for our multi-disciplinary team of staff and physicians who strive to provide the highest level of specialty care cardiology. Their commitment to quality medical care is the reason patients and their physicians choose Banner Good Samaritan," he said.
Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of 100 Top Programs, Solucient Center for Healthcare Improvement, stated that the study identified high performing cardiovascular hospitals at a national level, setting "performance targets for clinical outcomes and management of this high-risk, high-cost, and high-volume service line."
Solucient's study analyzed acute-care hospitals nationwide using detailed empirical performance data from publicly available Medicare MedPAR data and Medicare cost reports. Among the key findings:
States with higher rates of revascularization (angioplasty and bypass surgery) for treatment of the most severe form of heart attacks are experiencing higher survival rates, with great variation by state in revascularization rates for these kinds of heart attacks.
Survival rates for patients with this type of heart attack are equally good whether they are directly admitted for revascularization or are stable enough to be transferred to another facility providing the procedures.
Winners of the 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular award were more likely than peer hospitals to provide revascularization to patients with the most severe heart attacks.
One kind of post-operative complication for all revascularized patients — post-operative hemorrhage or hematoma — is rapidly declining while another — post-operative sepsis — seems to be increasing.
If cardiovascular services in all acute-care hospitals performed at the same level as the hospitals with the nation's top cardiovascular services, 10,000 additional cardiovascular patients could survive each year; and an additional 1,100 patients could be complication-free.
Winning hospitals are 23 percent less likely than non-winners to have post-operative infections and about 20 percent less likely than non-winners to have post-operative hemorrhage for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).
Winning hospitals annually perform as much as 80 percent more bypass surgeries and PCIs, including angioplasties, as their peers.
Cardiovascular patients at winning hospitals return to everyday life faster than those at non-winning hospitals. Patients at the winning hospitals were released more than a half-day earlier than patients at peer hospitals.
Average cardiovascular-related costs for benchmark hospitals were nearly 15 percent lower than at peer hospitals.
"Our focus on these evidence-based practices, throughout Banner Health, has allowed us to build on a legacy of quality patient care," said David Cheney, senior administrator, cardiology. "The sharing of benchmarks and best practices within our system has led to improved outcomes."
The study indicated that, although the general public is "sicker than ever before, more coronary bypass patients across the nation are surviving surgery, and at a higher-than-anticipated rates," and that the Solucient Top 100 Hospitals® cardiovascular prize winners are leading the nation in this trend, with a significant decrease in the actual death rate of five patients per 1,000 by 2005.
Banner Good Samaritan was one of two Arizona hospitals to receive this award in the category of "Teaching Hospitals with Cardiovascular Residencies" and one of five hospitals in the state to receive recognition in the Top 100. Other Arizona hospitals include Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center Phoenix), Arizona Heart Hospital Phoenix) and Sun Health Boswell Medical Center (Sun City).
Located in downtown Phoenix, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a not-for-profit organization, and is a flagship hospital within the system. The hospital was recently recognized as a Magnet facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices.
Licensed for 659 inpatient beds, Banner Good Samaritan's staff is nationally recognized for its expertise in several major services, including cardiology, critical care, neurosciences, obstetrics, oncology, rehabilitation, research, surgery and both solid organ and bone marrow transplant services. Today, more than 3,600 nurses and staff members work with over 1,700 physicians representing nearly 50 specialties staff to provide care to more than 36,000 inpatients each year.
Contact:
Public Relations
Jennifer Pool/Craig Fischer
(602) 239-4411
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
1111 E. McDowell Road
Phoenix, AZ 85006
