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Less than two years after combining two successful open heart surgery programs into one, the Alegent Health Heart & Vascular Institute (HVI) has emerged as one of the top hospitals in the nation for cardiac surgery outcomes.
Don’t believe us? Ask the experts.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) awarded Alegent Health with three out of three stars for overall quality, a rating given to only 14 percent of the nation's hospitals. STS, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the highest quality outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung and esophagus, compares and rates heart bypass surgery outcomes for hospitals across the country. The most recent rating, based on outcomes from July 2010 through June 2011, is based on multiple measures of quality, including pre-operative care, survival rate and lack of complications following surgery.
"This rating puts us among the top open heart surgery programs in the nation and validates the approach we’ve taken," explains Jeffrey Carstens, M.D., cardiologist and Executive Medical Director with HVI.
That approach – consolidating the open heart surgery programs at Immanuel Medical Center and Bergan Mercy Medical Center – moved all of Alegent Health’s open heart surgeries to Bergan Mercy in June of 2009.
Consolidating complex surgery under one roof has allowed us to capture the best aspects of both programs," explains Thomas Langdon, M.D., cardiothoracic surgeon and Director of Cardiovascular Surgery with HVI. We pulled those pieces together, refined our processes and now have standards that allow us to be more consistent in the care we provide."
Those standardized processes have led the HVI team to unprecedented outcomes:
- Every single person who came to HVI for coronary bypass surgery in 2011, no matter how sick the patient or complicated the surgery, survived the operation and the following 30 days;
- Patients recovered quicker at HVI, going home an average a day and a half earlier than the national average;
- And despite a shortened length-of-stay, patients went home healthier than their counterparts across the country, with only six percent requiring re-admission within 30 days of surgery (compared to the national average of ten percent).
From the pre-operative evaluation to the operating room and from post-operative care to post-discharge follow-up – what we have here isn’t easy to replicate," says Dr. Carstens.
Dr. Langdon agrees. "All the pieces have to come together to achieve outcomes like this – everything from the surgeon and surgical team to the men and women who cook our patients’ food or clean their rooms. This excellence is only possible through the skill, dedication and teamwork of all the care givers involved."
| What sets Alegent Health Heart & Vascular Institute apart from the rest? |
Beyond the talent and dedication of the entire care team, there are several key things Alegent Health is doing differently to ensure the best possible care for their open heart surgery patients.
- Alegent Health introduced the universal bed" concept to the metro, meaning every heart surgery patient remains in the same hospital room throughout their entire post-operative stay. Rather than move the patient from one unit to the next depending on the level of care he or she requires, we move the care around the patient," says Dr. Langdon. We’ve found that this method results in reduced medical errors, increased teamwork and greater overall patient satisfaction."
- Rather than wait weeks for a visit with a cardiologist post-discharge, every cardiac surgery patient is seen in the clinic within 72 hours of going home. We make sure they understand their medication and their discharge plans; we find out if they’re doing okay at home; and we ensure they are going to get tied into cardiac rehabilitation," says Dr. Carstens. In the two years since this process was implemented, HVI have cut their readmission rates by more than sixty percent.
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