Blanchard Valley Hospital’s Cardiovascular Program, part of the Jane & Gary Heminger HeartCare Center, was named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals for 2013 by Truven Health Analytics, formerly Thomson Reuters.

The study examined the performance of more than 1,000 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary interventions such as angioplasties. This year’s winners were recently announced in Modern Healthcare magazine.

“Being named a 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospital is a result of care built around our patients. We don’t strive for honors and awards for their own sake. We do it because of our commitment to the community. Our patients deserve the highest quality care, and awards like this are a measure of how well we are doing. It is because of our outstanding associates, physicians, board members and volunteers that this level of exceptional care is possible,” said William H. Kose, MD, chief quality officer of Blanchard Valley Health System.

The study shows that cardiovascular outcomes in U.S. hospitals are improving nationwide. Across all U.S. hospitals, 96 percent of cardiovascular inpatients survive and remain complication-free. Among the 50 Top Hospitals, performance surpasses these high-water marks as indicated by:

• Better risk-adjusted survival rates (41 percent fewer deaths than expected, compared with 9 percent fewer than expected at peer hospitals) for bypass surgery patients.

• Lower complication incidents (35 percent lower rate of heart failure complications than peers).

• Fewer patients readmitted to the hospital after 30 days.

• Shorter hospital stays. The typical winning hospital, like BVH, released their bypass patients a full day sooner, and their heart attack and heart failure patients about three-quarters of a day sooner than their peers.

• Lower costs. Top hospitals spend $3,500 less per bypass case and $1,000 less per angioplasty than non-winners.

The study evaluated general and applicable specialty, short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals treating a broad spectrum of cardiology patients.

Truven Health Analytics researchers analyzed 2010 and 2011 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2010 Medicare cost reports, and 2012 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare data.

They scored hospitals in key performance areas: risk-adjusted mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures (a group of measures that assess process of care), percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, 30-day mortality rates, 30-day readmission rates, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost.

More information on this study and other 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals research is available at www.truvenhealth.com.