Spectrum Health Ranked Among Nation’s Top Heart Hospitals

Ninth Time On List Leads Michigan Hospitals

Spectrum Health has been named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® for cardiovascular care by Thomson Reuters.

Thomson Reuters’ annual study—100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks—examined the performance of 971 hospitals by analyzing clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks, and for those who received coronary bypass surgery or percutaneous cardiovascular interventions (PCI) such as angioplasties.

This is the ninth time Spectrum Health has been recognized with this honor, more than any hospital in Michigan. Only 10 hospitals on this year’s list have earned this recognition nine or more times. The 2009 winners were announced in Modern Healthcare magazine.

“Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer in the United States so we look for the hospitals that provide the best care,” said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs of Thomson Reuters. “These hospitals set the national standard for cardiovascular disease outcomes, process of care, efficiency, and lower costs. They deliver significant value to their communities.”

The study, in its 11th year, found that the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular winners have:

17 percent lower mortality rates for heart attack patients
10 percent lower mortality rates for heart failure patients
27 percent lower mortality rates for bypass surgery patients
22 percent lower mortality rates following PCI
Fewer post-operative complications—99 percent of patients were complication-free
Close to 12 percent shorter average hospital stay
12 percent lower cost per case

“To consistently earn this award shows we’ve established ourselves as a national leader in cardiovascular care,” said Matthew Van Vranken, executive vice president, Spectrum Health and president, Spectrum Health Hospital Group. “Nine years of recognition means we continue to focus on high quality care and advanced treatments. This award underscores the quality and value of our heart-related services, and is a tremendous reflection on the fine physicians and staff at Spectrum Health.”

The 100 Top Hospitals study focused on short term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. Thomson Reuters researchers analyzed 2007 and 2008 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2008 Medicare cost reports, and data from other sources. They scored hospitals in key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost.

The measures were calculated for three classes of hospitals with the following number of winners in each:

Teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs, 30 winners
Teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency programs, 40 winners
Community hospitals, 30 winners

Spectrum Health is a not-for-profit health system in West Michigan that offers a full continuum of care through the Spectrum Health Hospital Group, a collection of seven hospitals and more than 140 service sites; the Spectrum Health Medical Group and mmpc, multispecialty physician groups with more than 400 providers; and Priority Health, a health plan with nearly 500,000 members. Spectrum Health’s 16,000 employees, 1,500 medical staff members and 2,000 volunteers are committed to delivering the highest quality care. The organization provided $111.1 million in community benefit during its 2008 fiscal year. As a system, Spectrum Health has earned more than 100 awards during the past 10 years.