GMC named among nation's top cardiovascular hospitals

Nov. 21, 2008, DANVILLE - Geisinger Medical Center (GMC) has been named to the 2008 Thomson Reuters (formerly Thomson) 100 Top Hospitals® Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success list, which annually identifies high-performing cardiovascular hospitals nationally and sets performance targets for managing and improving cardiovascular services.
 
The 2008 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals®: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study examined the performance of nearly 1,000 U.S. hospitals by analyzing their outcomes in eight categories of clinical quality practices and efficiency of operations related to congestive heart failure, heart attacks, bypass surgery, and percutaneous coronary interventions.

GMC has been named to this important list for the third year in a row and fourth time overall.

“This is further recognition of the outstanding care provided by our cardiovascular team,” said Albert Bothe, MD, GMC Chief Medical Officer and Geisinger Health System’s Chief Quality Officer. “It is yet another reflection of Geisinger's commitment to quality and patient-centered care.”

GMC was recognized for outperforming Thomson Reuter’s benchmark for teaching hospitals with residency programs in six leading indicators: risk–adjusted coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patient mortality index, risk-adjusted percutaneous coronary intervention patient mortality index, risk-adjusted post-operative infection index, acute myocardial infarction core measures mean percent, severity-adjusted length of stay and average cost per case.

This represents continued improvement over the prior year’s reports in which Geisinger exceeded the median benchmarks in two indicators and then four indicators, in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

“It’s all about team work and focus on the patient, which is always job number one,” said Jeffrey Tiesi, Geisinger’s Vice President of Cardiovascular Services. “Geisinger’s cardiovascular physicians and staff lead the country with innovations such as the ProvenCare CABG program and Level I Heart Attack programs. We are very pleased about receiving this national recognition for the fourth time.”

If peer hospitals provided the same quality of care as the 100 Top Hospitals, survival rates would increase by nearly 6,000 patients each year. Complications of care could also decrease in peer hospitals; 720 additional patients across the U.S. could be complication-free.

GMC was one of only 30 teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs to be selected. Other hospitals in the category include Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.

This achievement by Geisinger Medical Center marks the ninth time that a Geisinger Health System hospital has been recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 hospital. GMC earned previous Thomson recognition for academic medical centers and has also been included on Thomson’s Best Hospitals list for Performance Improvement Leaders. Geisinger Wyoming Valley Hospital in Wilkes-Barre previously earned a place on Thomson’s 100 Top Hospitals National Benchmarks for Success list in the category for medium-size community hospitals.

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