Mission Health's heart center receives multiple top ratings

Mission Heart has received its 16th "3 Star" rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) surgery, placing it once again in the top tier of heart surgery centers across the United States that perform such procedures.  In addition, STS has recognized Mission Heart with a “3 Star” rating for the first time for its Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR) and Aortic Valve Replacement + Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery (AVR + CABG).

A 3 Star rating is the highest category of quality and designates that surgery results are statistically better than the national mean.  Hospitals that score below average receive one star; those in the average rating receive two stars; and programs that score significantly above average receive the top-tier rating of three stars.  For the CABG procedure, approximately 10 percent of nearly 1,100 surgical groups in the U.S. that perform cardiac surgery received the top rating.  For the AVR procedure, only about 8 percent of the surgical sites that perform the procedure received the top rating.  For the AVR + CABG, just 6 percent of sites received this award.  Less than 1 percent of all sites received 3 stars in all three categories.

“We are honored to have our hard work recognized and to be one of just a select few hospitals in the U.S. to receive such a rating,” said Stephen W. Ely, PhD, MD, Section Chair for Cardiac Surgery at Mission Heart. “It is validation of the quality work we are doing on behalf of the patients we serve.  However, the real payoff as care providers is in the excellent outcomes for our patients.”

The STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database includes more than 4 million cardiothoracic surgical records, making it the largest such registry in the world. The current data analysis for which these 3 Star ratings are based is the period from July 2013 through June 2014. The STS's comprehensive rating system compares the quality of surgeries in terms of survival rates, the absence of complications and other key measures.

"Mission Heart’s continued ranking among the top surgical heart programs in the country is a testament to the hard work of our distinguished team of cardiothoracic surgeons, other physicians, nurses and caregivers, affirming our position as a national leader in cardiovascular surgery," said Jill Hoggard Green, COO of Mission Health and President of Mission Hospital and Mission Medical Associates. “This achievement recognizes Mission Health’s commitment to quality and improved patient outcomes and provides further evidence of the high-quality care we provide to the people of western North Carolina.”