Marquette General Hospital Named Among

Nation's 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals

TUESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010:

MGH held a press conference early this morning to announce that Marquette General Hospital has been named one of the nation's 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals.

While this marks the fifth consecutive time that MGH has been named among the top 100 cardiovascular hospitals by Thomson Reuters, for 2011 the list was narrowed to 50 elite hospital-based cardiovascular programs. Thomson Reuters is considered the industry's nationwide leader in healthcare data.

"To be recognized nationally for our expert heart care for the fifth year in a row is an honor to everyone at Marquette General," said A. Gary Muller, FACHE, MGH President and SHP President and CEO. "We are privileged to have an incredible team of physicians and staff at the Marquette General Heart Institute who provide nationally renowned cardiovascular care to patients throughout the Upper Peninsula. Most of all, this designation verifies that our patients do not need to leave the Upper Peninsula for heart care that is ranked among the best in the country."

The Thomson Reuters study, now in its twelfth year, examined the performance of 1,022 hospitals by analyzing outcomes for patients with heart failure and heart attacks, and for those who received coronary bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary interventions such as angioplasty.

The Marquette General Heart Institute is a joint operation between MGH and cardiologists and cardiovascular-thoracic surgeons from Upper Michigan Cardiovascular Associates, PC. Together they perform more than 4,000 heart procedures per year, including balloon angioplasty, stents, electrophysiology, and atherectomy. They also perform more than 200 coronary artery bypass, surgical ablations (mini-maze), or valve replacements per year.

The study shows that 96 percent of cardiovascular inpatients at MGH survive and approximately 93 percent remain complication-free following procedures, indicative of improved cardiovascular care across-the-board

Marquette General Hospital named among of nation's 50 Top cardiovascular hospitalsover the past decade. The 50 top hospitals' performance surpasses these high-water marks as indicated by:

~Better risk-adjusted survival rates (33 percent fewer deaths than non-winning hospitals for bypass surgery).
~Lower complications indices (21 percent lower for heart failure complications).
~Fewer patients readmitted to the hospital in the 30 days following discharge.
~Shorter hospital visits and lower costs. Top hospitals discharge heart patients a half day sooner and spend $1,300 less per case than non-winners.

"This award is a real credit to the teamwork focused on each patient at the Marquette General Heart Institute,"said Dr. Thomas LeGalley of Upper Michigan Cardiovascular Associates, PC, and the Medical Staff at Marquette General. "We take great pride in achieving a national benchmark level performance, especially five years in a row. We work very hard to assure that our patients receive the highest national standards of care."

Marquette joins an elite 50 Top cardiovascular program list that includes the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic.