Carle Foundation Hospital Reaches New Heights in Cardiology Services Ranking
HealthGrades once again finds patient outcomes among nation’s best
October 15, 2008
Cardiology at Carle Foundation Hospital has received its best set of scores ever from HealthGrades, the nation’s leading healthcare ratings agency. In addition to receiving five-star ratings (the highest possible score) for Coronary Bypass Surgery, Treatment of Heart Attack (or AMI), and Treatment of Heart Failure, the Hospital was ranked among the top 10% of hospitals in the Nation for Overall Cardiac Services and Cardiac Surgery.
After performing independent analysis of 41 million Medicare hospitalization records at virtually all of the nation’s 5,000 non-federal hospitals from 2005 to 2007, HealthGrades also placed Carle Foundation Hospital in the top 10 in Illinois (ranked 7th in the state) for Cardiac Care, with a status of Best in Region for Cardiac Care.
Carle Foundation Hospital is also a 2009 recipient of the Cardiac Care Excellence Award™ and the Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™.
“This multiple recognition marks a new best for us as an organization, and serves as a welcome sign that we are moving closer to achieving our goal: becoming a world-class innovator, providing exceptional patient-care and research,” said James C. Leonard, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Carle Foundation Hospital. “We believe this objective study reinforces our position as a national leader in heart care, and shows that our work is truly improving lives day in and day out.”
According to the HealthGrades’ eleventh annual Hospital Quality in America Study, patients admitted to the nation’s top-performing hospitals, five-star hospitals like Carle Foundation Hospital, have, on average, a significantly higher chance of survival than those treated at one-star hospitals across 27 procedures and conditions analyzed. In fact, if all hospitals performed at the level of five-star rated hospitals, 237,420 Medicare deaths could potentially have been prevented over the three years studied.
Each hospital receives a star rating from HealthGrades based on its patient outcomes in terms of mortality or complication rates for each procedure or treatment. Hospitals with outcomes that are above average to a statistically significant degree receive a five-star rating. Hospitals with average outcomes receive a three-star rating, and hospitals with outcomes that are below average receive a one-star rating.
Based on the study, HealthGrades has made available its 2009 quality ratings for virtually every hospital in the country at www.healthgrades.com, a Web site designed to help individuals research and compare local healthcare providers. On the site, HealthGrades offers, free to consumers, quality ratings for 27 procedures and treatments from virtually every hospital in the country. The Web site is designed so that consumers can easily compare patient outcomes at their local hospitals for procedures ranging from aortic aneurysm repair to bypass surgery.
The HealthGrades recognition comes as the latest in a steady stream of national and state awards received by Carle Foundation Hospital in recent years. The Hospital was named a Thomson (formerly Solucient) 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospital on two separate occasions, and received the 2006 Lincoln Bronze Award for Commitment to Excellence. Most recently, the Hospital received the Consumer Choice Award by National Research Corporation for the Champaign-Urbana metro area for the third year in a row. In addition, we have recently received official accreditation as a Chest Pain Center, further recognition of our outstanding ability to treat patients with serious cardiac conditions.