Portsmouth Regional Hospital (PRH) has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. PRH’s three-star rating, which is the highest category of quality for this rating, puts it in the top 10 percent of hospitals in the U.S. and Canada that perform CABG procedures.
The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.
The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a three-year period, from January 2020 to December 2022, and includes 450 participants.
“Achieving a three-star rating from the STS is truly a remarkable feat, and one we’re very proud of,” said Dean M. Carucci, chief executive officer of Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “Dr. Robert Helm, our chief of cardiac surgery, and his team are among the best of the best in cardiac surgery. They are sought out by patients throughout Northern New England and are not only meticulous with their surgical skills, but also have exceptional reputations for providing thoughtful, compassionate patient care.”
“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shavian, MD, chair of the Task Force on Quality Measurement. “Participation in the database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in health care delivery and helps provide patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about health care.”
The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The database includes four components: The Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), the Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), and the mechanical circulatory support database (Intermacs). The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.9 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,800 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90 percent of groups that perform heart surgery in the U.S. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report their heart surgery scores and star ratings.