Good News for West Penn!

The Western Pennsylvania Hospital has been named in a newly released national study as one of the country’s 100 Top Hospitals® for cardiovascular care.

The 2007 Cardiovascular Benchmark for Success Study was commissioned by Thomson Healthcare and examined the performance of nearly 1,000 U.S. hospitals in treating congestive heart failure and heart attacks.

West Penn is one of 30 teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs named to the Top 100 list. Among the elite hospitals joining West Penn on the list are Cleveland Clinic, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

"These winning hospitals bring great value to their communities," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs in the Center for Healthcare Improvement, Thomson Healthcare. "They have set national benchmarks for clinical process, outcomes, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness."

To determine the award-winning hospitals, the study analyzed publicly available Medicare cost reports and Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data, examining several areas related to patient outcomes and efficiency.

The study found that if all cardiovascular hospitals achieved the same results as the 100 Top Hospitals award winners, more than 7,000 lives would be saved and nearly 750 medical complications would be avoided annually.

The study examined key performance areas such as risk-adjusted mortality and complications, volume of procedures, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and severity-adjusted average cost.

West Penn Hospital performed 560 open-heart surgeries and 5,000 cardiac catheterizations in fiscal 2007.