Portsmouth Regional Hospital announced this week that it achieved a designation from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) that places it among the nation’s elite for heart bypass surgery based on a study of 1,017 participating facilities and 151,471 isolated coronary bypass grafting (CABG) surgery procedures nationwide.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons administers a comprehensive rating system that allows for comparisons regarding the quality of heart bypass surgery among hospitals across the country. Approximately 10 percent of hospitals receive the “3 star” rating, which denotes the highest category of quality. In the current analysis of national data covering the period from January 2015 through December 2015, the isolated CABG surgery performance of Portsmouth Regional Hospital was found to lie in the highest quality tier, thereby receiving an STS 3 star rating.
STS’s national database tracks things like mortality, morbidity (including infections), complications, pre-op and discharge meds, and use of grafts.
“What is so special about this designation for us is that we achieved it by taking all cardiac patients.” said Dean Carucci, CEO of Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “The cardiovascular surgeons at Portsmouth Regional Hospital are amazingly talented clinicians as evidenced by our recognition as a 3-Star program. This recognition is not just a testament to our clinical outcomes, but our commitment to serving the Seacoast community with tertiary level of care that allows patients and families to stay close to home.”
“In order to achieve this designation, the team at Portsmouth works tirelessly to ensure our processes, protocols, and team environment lead to the best patient outcomes,” said Donato Sisto, MD, Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at Portsmouth Regional Hospital. Physicians, physician assistants, nurses, technicians across the cardiac service line worked toward this STS 3-Star rating – it was a true team effort.”