St. David's HealthCare facilities named among nation's 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals

Austin, Texas — St. David’s Medical Center (including Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital) was identified among the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals^® according to an independent quality analysis based on a balanced scorecard provided by Premier, Inc. Only 10 community hospitals made this year’s list. The St. David’s Medical Center consolidated entity, which includes St. David’s Georgetown Hospital and Heart Hospital of Austin, ranked No. 1 among the list of community hospitals.

This is the eighth consecutive year for St. David’s Medical Center (including Heart Hospital of Austin and St. David’s Georgetown Hospital) to make the list. 

“This recognition reflects the unwavering commitment of our physicians, nurses, and our entire care team to provide the highest quality cardiovascular care,” said David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David’s HealthCare. “To be named among the nation’s top cardiovascular hospitals for eight consecutive years is a testament to our relentless pursuit of excellence in patient care, innovation, and achieving exceptional outcomes.”

To create the list, an objective, quantitative analysis of publicly available data was conducted to identify the top cardiovascular hospitals in the United States. The primary purpose of Premier’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program, formerly known as PINC AI 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals, is to inspire hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities. Organizations do not apply to participate in the study, and award winners do not pay to market their honor.

Facilities on Premier’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals list reported:

• 25% fewer acute myocardial infarction (AMI) deaths and 66% fewer coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) deaths
• 30% fewer percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) and 19% fewer CABG patients with complications.
• Higher 30-day survival rates for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF) and CABG patients (0.4 to 1.2 percentage points higher)
• Lower 30-day readmission rates for AMI, HF and CABG patients (0.2 to 0.5 percentage points lower)
• Shorter average lengths of stay between patient groups (0.5 for AMI, 0.4 for HF, 0.3 for PCI and one full day for CABG)

Additionally, patients had a better experience at top-performing hospitals compared to the remaining peer hospitals, with a top-box Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score of 72% versus 68%.

View more information about the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program.

St. David’s HealthCare

St. David’s HealthCare includes nine of the area’s leading hospitals and is one of the largest health systems in Texas. As the fourth-largest private employer in the Austin area, St. David’s HealthCare has more than 12,000 colleagues across more than 180 sites of care.

St. David’s HealthCare is a unique partnership between hospital management company HCA Healthcare and two local nonprofits—St. David’s Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation. The proceeds from the operations of the hospitals fund the foundations, which, in turn, invest those dollars back into the community. Since the inception of St. David’s HealthCare in 1996, more than $864 million has been given back to the community to improve the health and healthcare of Central Texans. 

Premier’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program

Premier’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals program focuses on short-term, acute care, nonfederal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. It includes patients requiring medical management, as well as those who receive invasive or surgical procedures. Because multiple measures are used, a hospital must provide all forms of cardiovascular care, including open heart surgery, to be included in the study. Each patient group is mutually exclusive by design.

Eligible hospitals are ranked for performance across four measurement grouping areas.

Hospital measure domains:

1.) Acute myrocardial infarction (AMI) Performance: There are six AMI measures used in the scoredcard. Measured include risk-adjusted inpatient morality, 30-day morality, 30-day readmissions, severity-adjusted length of stay, wage and severity-adjusted average cost per case and 30-day episode payment.

2.) Heart failure (HF) Performance: There six HF measures used in the scorecard. Measures include risk-adjusted inpatient morality, 30-day morality, 30-day readmissions, severity-adjusted length of stay, wage and severity-adjusted average cost per case and 30-day episode payment.

3.) Coronary bypass graff (CABG) Performance: There are six CABG measures used in the scorecard. Measures include risk-adjusted inpatient morality, 30-day morality, 30-day readmissions, severity-adjusted length of stay, wage and severity-adjusted average cost per case and 30-day episode payment.

4.) Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) Performance: There are four PCI measures used in the scorecard. Measures include risk-adjusted inpatient morality, 30-day morality, 30-day readmissions, severity-adjusted length of stay, wage and severity-adjusted average cost per case and 30-day episode payment.

Final rank is determined based on performance for all individual measures. Hospitals are ranked within three separate peer groups: teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs (20 top performing facilities), teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency programs (20 top performing facilities) and community hospitals (10 top performing facilities).