Nation’s Leading Consumer Magazine: St. Luke’s Among 17 Top Performing Hospitals for Heart Surgery in Northeast United States

St. Luke’s was the ONLY local hospital to receive top designation.

June 7, 2018 - Hundreds of thousands of heart surgeries are performed every year in the United States. From coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to aortic valve replacements, aneurysm repairs and many other procedures, heart surgery has become far more commonplace than it once was. But it still carries major risks and can sometimes be scary for patients and families.

The nation’s leading consumer magazine reported last week that St. Luke’s University Hospital is among the 17 top performing hospitals for heart surgery in the northeast United States. In fact, St. Luke’s was the ONLY local, top-ranked hospital in this important consumer report. 

See rankings here.

“Based on publically reported heart surgery data, St. Luke’s University Health Network is being lauded as one of the best places in the country to have heart surgery based on safety and successful clinical outcomes,” says Raymond Durkin, MD, chairman of cardiovascular medicine, St. Luke’s University Health Network. “In fact, St. Luke’s is the only hospital in the region to be recognized with this honor.”

“This recognition is a result of the hard work of dedicated professionals, who have worked to develop a model of quality and excellence, which is counted in good patient outcomes and exceptional results," adds Stephen Olenchock, DO, chief of cardiovascular surgery for St. Luke’s University Health Network. "To be part of such an exceptional ‘patient-centric’ team, and to be recognized by such a well-know and well-regarded organization that works side-by-side with consumers for truth, transparency and fairness in the marketplace, is a very rewarding feeling.”

Objective data was provided by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Adult Cardiac Surgery National Database and ratings were based on performance measures for coronary artery bypass surgery and aortic valve replacement surgery.

“Reporting data in a public forum makes us better,” says Donna Sabol, vice president and chief quality officer, St. Luke’s University Health Network. “We’ve been doing it for more than 15 years. For St. Luke’s, it’s just part of fulfilling our obligation to let our patients and communities know that we stand behind and are proud of the high quality care that we deliver.”

“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) data is the highest quality data available,” says Olenchock. “It’s the gold standard. It validates that St. Luke’s delivers the highest level and highest quality of truly sophisticated care. Publicly reportable data gives you a real picture of true quality. It’s not a popularity contest like some other reports.”

“And the fact that we consent to having our data published in such a public forum goes to show how transparent we really are,” adds Durkin. “It is a reflection of our mission and our values. We are directly accountable to the communities we serve, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

This recognition for St. Luke’s heart surgery program reinforces a number of other recent honors including Becker’s Hospital Review’s Top 100 List of Hospitals with Great Heart Programs, Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals Award and Truven Health Analytics’ 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals Award.

See full article here.

Media Contact:

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $1.9 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) repeatedly – six times total and four years in a row including 2018.  It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.