Sustaining Excellence in All Aspects of Cardiac Care Rare But Lives Could Be Saved...

Sustaining Excellence in All Aspects of Cardiac Care Rare But Lives Could Be
Saved If More Patients Were Treated at Top-Performing Hospitals

Cardiac Data Solutions conducting further research to identify which processes
of care differentiate top-performing hospitals

ATLANTA, April 28 /PRNewswire/ -- While sustained excellence in cardiac care
is rare, hospitals that excel in all three major areas of cardiac care --
acute myocardial infarction (AMI), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
and coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) -- have more cardiac patient
admissions and lower average risk-adjusted mortality rates. That according to
new research funded and conducted by Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. and
presented at the American Heart Association's 10th Scientific Forum on Quality
of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

Thirty-six out of 643 hospitals studied were ranked as top-performing
hospitals, meaning they scored in the top quartile for all three services in
at least one of the study years and no lower than the second quartile in the
other two years. These hospitals treated approximately 20 percent more heart
patients and saved more lives across all three services during the study
period than the 29 lowest-performing hospitals. Five facilities were ranked in
the top quartile (for lives saved) for all three years. The researchers
studied the average risk-adjusted mortality rates among Medicare beneficiary
patients treated between October 1, 2004 and September 30, 2007 (FY 2005, 2006
and 2007). According to the researchers, if patients treated at
lower-performing hospitals had been treated at the top-performing
institutions, the lives of more than 700 patients per year could have been
saved.

Cardiac Data Solutions is conducting further research to understand the
processes and protocols of care that are in place in top-performing hospitals
compared to all other hospitals. Top-performing hospitals will be invited to
complete an online electronic survey, which will be administered through
http://www.cardiacdatasolutions.com. Other hospitals interested in
participating in the research and completing the electronic survey are invited
to contact Cardiac Data Solutions. The survey will serve as a teaching tool
with examples of evidence-based processes and protocols available for all
participating hospitals.

"Further study will help us understand what the top-performing hospitals are
doing to achieve consistently lower risk-adjusted mortality rates, which in
turn can provide guidance to other hospitals to improve their clinical
outcomes," says April Simon, RN, MSN, one of the researchers and founder of
Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc.

In addition to Simon, researchers included: Phillip P. Brown, MD,
cardiovascular surgeon (retired) and past chairman, Department of Surgery,
Centennial Medical Center; Aaron Kugelmass, MD, director, Heart and Vascular
Center, Baystate Medical Center; Matthew R. Reynolds, MD, electrophysiologist
and director, Economics and Quality of Life Core Lab, Harvard Clinical
Research Institute; David J. Cohen, MD, interventional cardiologist and
director, Cardiovascular Research, Mid America Heart Institute, St. Luke's
Hospital; and Steven D. Culler, PhD, associate professor, Rollins School of
Public Health, Emory University.

About Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. (CDS)

Founded in 1999, Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc. (CDS) provides consultation
services, data analysis, clinical benchmarks, management tools, research
support services and leadership training to hospitals, physicians, payors,
manufacturers and the financial community. CDS is focused solely on the
cardiovascular market with the primary mission of supporting and improving
clinical and business decisions to improve the quality of patient care. Using
a proprietary data analysis tool with comprehensive and current data on
clinical outcomes, CDS helps identify opportunities for improvement and
develop evidence-based strategies to achieve them.

CONTACT:

Karen Conway
303-564-2147
719-488-0359
kmcassociates@aol.com

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SOURCE Cardiac Data Solutions, Inc.

Karen Conway, +1-303-564-2147, +1-719-488-0359, kmcassociates@aol.com