HealthGrades’ 12th Annual Hospital Quality in America Study Ranks Piedmont Hospital Among Top 10% Nationally

ATLANTA (October 13, 2009) – Piedmont Hospital today announced that it has received 2010 specialty excellence awards for Cardiac Care and Coronary Intervention from HealthGrades®, the healthcare ratings company.  The awards place Piedmont Hospital’s clinical outcomes in the top 10 percent nationally.  In addition, Piedmont was ranked Best in Atlanta for Overall Cardiac Care, Cardiac Surgery and Coronary Intervention.

Piedmont Hospital received five-star ratings in the categories of treatment of heart attack, coronary intervention, congestive heart attack and bypass surgery. Piedmont’ outcomes place it among the top three hospitals in Georgia for cardiac surgery, cardiology and overall cardiac services. 

“Piedmont Hospital is honored to be recognized again by HealthGrades for our commitment to excellence in cardiac care,” said Robert W. Maynard, president and CEO.  “We place a high priority on quality, and these rankings reflect our commitment to providing the highest quality of care to our patients.”

In 2008, Piedmont Hospital celebrated 20 years of open-heart surgery and cardiac angioplasty. The Fuqua Heart Center of Atlanta at Piedmont Hospital offers a full spectrum of integrated cardiovascular care from initial testing to post-surgery recovery, including nationally accredited programs in cardiac rehabilitation, echocardiology, peripheral vascular and congestive heart failure. Together with the Fuqua Heart Center, the Piedmont Heart Institute (PHI) aims to propel new programs in cardiovascular research, education and excellence in prevention, arrhythmias, coronary and vascular intervention, cardiac surgery, stroke and cardiac imaging, as well as all other cardiovascular care components. PHI now includes more than 75 cardiovascular specialists in over 30 offices across north Georgia. 

The specialty excellence award for outstanding cardiac care given to Piedmont Hospital was released in conjunction with the 12th annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, which reviewed mortality rates and complication rates based on an analysis of more than 40 million Medicare hospitalization records submitted by the nation’s approximately 5,000 non-federal hospitals during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

According to the study, top-performing hospitals had dramatically lower mortality rates than other hospitals. For the 17 procedures and diagnoses for which HealthGrades analyzed mortality rates, patients at top hospitals had a 72 percent lower chance of dying when compared with the lowest-performing hospitals, and a 52 percent lower chance of dying when compared to the U.S. national average.

For 28 procedures and treatments, HealthGrades issues star ratings that reflect the mortality and complication rates for each category of care. Hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have mortality or complication rates that are below the national average, to a statistically significant degree. A 3-star rating means the hospital performs as expected. One-star ratings indicate the hospital’s mortality or complication rates in that procedure or treatment are statistically higher than average. Because the risk profiles of patient populations at hospitals are not alike, HealthGrades risk-adjusts the data to allow for apples-to-apples comparisons.

More information on HealthGrades study, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com.