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Union Memorial Cardiac Surgery Program Receives Highest Quality Rating from Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Baltimore, MD — (February 17, 2011) Union Memorial Hospital’s Cardiac Surgery Program has received a prestigious three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). With only 12-15 percent of cardiac surgery programs across the nation receiving such recognition, this is considered the highest quality rating a hospital can acquire.
“The success rates we achieve are not possible without the incredible work of the entire team here,” said Dr. Michael Fiocco, chief of cardiac surgery at Union Memorial Hospital. “Having one of the top-rated heart surgery programs in the country at Union Memorial gives patients the confidence of knowing the care they receive is among the best anywhere.”
The STS comprehensive rating system compares the quality of cardiac surgery among hospitals nationwide. Union Memorial is one of more than 900 participating hospitals that submitted data for analysis. This year’s rating is based on the combined data from years 2008 and 2009.
Considered one of the most accurate overall indicators of health care quality, the STS composite score is made up of 11 measures of quality across four main categories:
- Risk-adjusted mortality: The severity of each hospital’s patients before they undergo surgery.
- Risk-adjusted major morbidity: The percentage of patients who leave the hospital with none of the five serious complications of bypass—kidney failure, stroke, reoperation, infection of the chest wound, or the need to be supported by a breathing machine for an extended period of time.
- Percentage of bypass procedures that include the use of at least one internal mammary artery for bypass grafting.
- How often all of the four medications that improve a patient’s immediate outcome and risk of developing more blockages long-term were prescribed.
Consumer Reports
In October 2010, Consumer Reports identified Union Memorial’s heart-bypass surgery as one of the top-rated 50 surgical groups. We were the only hospital in Maryland to be awarded this prestigious distinction.
MEDSTAR HEALTH
MedStar Health is a not-for-profit, community-based healthcare organization that owns and operates nine major hospitals and other healthcare services in the Baltimore/Washington region. The hospitals, which include both teaching and community facilities, are Franklin Square Hospital Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Harbor Hospital, and Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Montgomery General Hospital in Olny, and St. Mary’s Hospital in St. Mary’s, Maryland, and Georgetown University Hospital, National Rehabilitation Hospital, and Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia.
As one of the largest employers in the region with more than 26,000 employees and over 5,300 affiliated physicians, MedStar Health hospitals and healthcare organizations serve more than half-a-million patients each year. MedStar Health is based in Columbia, Maryland and is one of the largest health systems in the mid-Atlantic region.
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