December 10, 2007

Mercy’s Heart Hospital has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® for cardiovascular care by Thomson Healthcare. The annual Thomson Healthcare award is based on hospitals' performance treating congestive heart failure and heart attacks. This is the second consecutive year that Mercy has been recognized with this honor.

Among the key findings from the 2007 Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study:

• 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 award winners reported hospital stays that were 12 percent shorter, on average, than peer hospitals (5.14 days compared with 5.85 days).
• The 100 Top Hospitals reported costs that averaged 13 percent — or about $2,000 — less per case than peer hospitals.
• There was a large difference in the volume of heart procedures performed by the winning hospitals and their peers. The 100 Top Hospitals performed nearly two-thirds more coronary artery bypass grafts and percutaneous coronary interventions such as angioplasty.

“It is an honor to be nationally recognized for our excellence in cardiovascular care,” said Mercy President & CEO Dave Vellinga. “It not only acknowledges the great work of our physicians, nurses and staff, but it also reflects Mercy’s commitment to provide the highest quality health care available to our patients.”

"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."

Thomson Healthcare scored facilities in eight key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of CABG patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage- and severity-adjusted average cost.

The measures were calculated for three classes of hospitals. Mercy Medical Center - Des Moines is a member of Mercy Health Network (MHN) and is the only hospital in central Iowa to receive the Thomson Top 100 award. MHN member Mercy Medical Center—North Iowa in Mason City also received the award for the third consecutive year.