HealthGrades Ranks Atlanta’s Top Cardiac Care, Surgery Hospital

January 10, 2008 - Piedmont Hospital has been recognized as Best in Atlanta for Overall Cardiac Care and Cardiac Surgery for 2008, according to The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study.

The HealthGrades study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006. Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated, and hospitals were assigned a one-star (poor), three-star (as expected) or five-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia.

Patients admitted to the nation’s top-performing five-star hospitals reportedly have better outcomes and lower mortality rates than those treated at one-star hospitals, across 18 procedures and conditions, according to the study released recently by HealthGrades.

Overall cardiac care includes performance in numerous cardiovascular services, including care for patients with heart attack, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG), valve surgery, interventional cardiology and heart failure. Earlier in the year, Piedmont Hospital was the recipient of HealthGrades 2007 Distinguished Hospital for Patient Safety Award, for the second consecutive year. The award ranked Piedmont among the top five percent nationally for patient safety outcomes.

“Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists,” said Samantha Collier, HealthGrades' chief medical officer and author of the study.

For more information: www.healthgrades.com and www.piedmont.org