The Nebraska Heart Institute Heart Hospital (NHH) has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for cardiovascular care by the healthcare business of Thomson Reuters.

The annual study – 2008 Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success – examined the performance of 970 hospitals by analyzing clinical outcomes for patients diagnosed with heart failure and heart attacks and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and angioplasties. This is the third year in a row that NHH has been recognized with this honor and was listed with the other honorees in the November 17 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

"With heart disease ranking as the nation's number one killer of men and women, it's important to the Lincoln community and our region to set the new national standard for cardiovascular disease outcomes, process of care and efficiency," says Thomas Burnell, chief executive officer for Nebraska Heart Institute and Heart Hospital. "By consistently challenging ourselves to be the best physicians, nurses, technicians and support staff, NHH will continue to provide enormous value to patients and families."

The Thomson Reuters study, in its tenth year, found that the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular award winners, as a group, performed 63 percent more bypass surgeries and 42 percent more angioplasties than peer hospitals. This may suggest that performance of bypass surgery is increasingly performed in centers of excellence. According to James Wudel, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon with NHH, utilizing a system that employs standardization benefits the patient tremendously.

"When we analyze our procedures and processes, specifically in the areas of heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass and percutaneous coronary intervention, we know that working consistently and in an orchestrated fashion will lead to better outcomes for our patients," says Wudel. The study found that the mortality rate for bypass surgery was 26 percent lower in the 100 Top Hospitals cardiovascular winners.

The 100 Top Hospitals study focused on short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. The stud analyzed 2006 and 2007 Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data, 2007 Medicare cost reports and data from other sources. Key performance areas studied included: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of coronary bypass patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, and severity-adjusted average length of stay.

A total of 100 hospitals were awarded the status of 100 Top Hospitals for cardiovascular care. There were three categories: teaching with a cardiovascular residency program; teaching without a residency program; and community hospital. NHH was in the community hospital category, where there are 30 winners across the U.S. "When you break-out the survey to our classification of community hospitals and see that we are one of only 30 hospitals across the U.S. to be awarded, this only underscores the benefit that patients across Nebraska and the region receive from services at NHH," says Burnell.

Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York, is the world's leading source of information for businesses and professionals. Providing critical information in areas such as financial, legal, scientific and health care to organizations across the world, Thomson Reuters produces benchmarks and analysis that enable organizations to improve performance and enhance the quality of healthcare. "There is a myriad of surveys that measure performance, not only of healthcare, but many other industries," says Burnell. "As an established leader, Thomson Reuters provides NHH with the knowledge that these are results that are accurately measured, and more importantly, sends a message to patients that they can trust these awarded providers such as the Nebraska Heart Hospital."

The Nebraska Heart Institute provides unparalleled state-of-the-art cardiac, vascular and thoracic care services. Annually, NHI performs more than 900 open-heart procedures, 2,000 cardiac catheter interventions and more than 6,000 cardiac catheterizations. In addition to offices in Lincoln, Columbus, Grand Island, Hastings and North Platte Nebraska, the 16 cardiologists and five surgeons with NHI visit more than 40 clinics throughout Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. The Nebraska Heart Hospital, located in southeast Lincoln provides patients throughout the region with leading-edge services delivered in a caring environment. The 63-bed Heart Hospital includes operating suites, cardiac catheterization labs, peripheral vascular and electrophysiology labs and comprehensive imaging services.

Together, the Nebraska Heart Institute clinic services and the Heart Hospital ensure patient access to quality health care, superior outcomes and a place where patient do come first.

For more information, contact:
J Hoffman
Director, Marketing & Physician Services
Nebraska Heart Institute & Heart Hospital
(402) 328-3940
jhoffman@neheart.com