French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo is one of two hospitals in California and among 50 nationwide named as top centers for inpatient cardiovascular services by Thomson Reuters.
In its 13th annual study, announced Monday, of hospitals that “achieved superior clinical outcomes,” French Hospital was among 15 centers named in the community hospitals category.
The study evaluated general, and some specialty, short-term, acute care hospitals that treat a variety of cardiology patients.
The study shows that overall, 97 percent of cardiovascular inpatients in U.S. hospitals survive and about 96 percent remain complication-free, reflecting improved cardiovascular care across the board over the past year, according to a news release by Thomson Reuters.
“Cardiac care is the core of the hospital’s mission,” French Hospital President Alan Iftiniuk said in a news release, giving credit for improved heart care to ongoing education and quicker patient treatment.
Thomson Reuters researchers looked at 2009 and 2010 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review data, Medicare cost reports, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hospitals comparison data.
They scored hospitals in key performance areas: mortality, complications, core measures (a group of measures that assess the 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 average costs.
In addition to the community hospitals category, the researchers looked at teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs and teaching hospitals without such programs. The top hospitals were not ranked among themselves.
The other California hospital in the top 50 was St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, south of Los Angeles.
— Tribune staff report
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