Centra named among top 100 hospitals in cardiac care

Centra ranks among the best hospitals in the nation for cardiovascular care in a recently released report.

The “100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks” report by Thomson Reuters recognizes hospitals that have more successful heart surgeries, keeping patients alive and out of the emergency room later. The higher-quality care also leads to lower costs, the study said.

Centra was one of three hospitals in Virginia to make the top 100 list. It has made the list in five of the past seven years. Thomson Reuters has compiled the list for 11 years.

“That shows how consistent we’ve been in our patient care,” said Dr. Michael Valentine, president of Centra’s cardiovascular group.

“We try to do the same thing for every patient and control the quality as best we can.”

The 100 Top Hospitals study scores hospitals for their procedures of care, rates of mortality and complications in heart care, average length of patients’ stay in the hospital and the average cost.

It does not assign the hospitals a specific ranking within the top 100.

The study said that compared to hospitals not in the top 100, the best-performing hospitals have mortality rates that are 17 percent lower for heart attack patients; 10 percent lower for heart failure patients; 27 percent lower for bypass surgery patients; and 22 percent lower for PCIs, a category of surgeries that includes angioplasties.

Also, 99 percent of patients at the top 100 hospitals had no complications following heart procedures. Their stays in the hospitals were 12 percent shorter and the costs per case were 12 percent lower, the report said.

Valentine said that Centra per-forms with the best hospitals in the nation because of its policies and procedures for cardiovascular care. “We have a culture of quality and a culture of excel-lence that everyone buys into,” he said. “We have tried to achieve low mortality, low mor-bidity, lower cost and lower readmission rates.

“I think that by doing this we can get patients out of the hospital and in home quicker, and with better results.”

Valentine said there is a link between better care and less expensive care. By becoming more efficient, hospitals decrease the amount of time pa-tients need to stay checked in. Also, Centra focuses on follow-up care, which decreases read-mission rates, Valentine said. “All of these things help lower the cost of care while improving the quality of care and efficiency.”

Centra performs about 5,000 cardiac procedures each year, and Valentine said the hospital attracts many patients from outside the Lynchburg region because of its quality achievements.