Venice makes top 100 heart hospitals list again

David Gulliver - posted 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16

Venice Regional Medical Center was named one of the country's Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospitals for the fourth straight year.

The recognition, announced Monday, comes in a long-running and well-respected study from Thomson Reuters' healthcare information group, formerly known as Solucient. Venice's run of success puts in good company: It is one of just 30 community hospitals to make the list, out of 529 that met criteria for consideration. And just 38 of the 100 have been on the list for more than four years.

The analysis looks at eight measures of performance, including medical and surgical patient mortality rates, adjusted for the severity of the patient's case, and the frequency of complications including post-operative bleeding and infection. Melody Trimble, Venice Regional's chief executive officer, said the hospital is particularly proud of the award because it recognizes the cardiovascular team's work from start to finish.

"It really reflects the entire program, from the time the patient is out in the field to the time the patient goes home," she said. The Thomson Reuters study looks at cases of heart attack and heart failure and examines the outcomes of both medical care and procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention, such as placing stents, and coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Notably, the list includes some hospital systems noted in the healthcare reform debate as models for care, such as Pennsylvania's Geisinger system, but does not include some of the best-known names in medicine, such as Johns Hopkins and Massachusetts General.

Study officials point to the eighth performance criteria, an efficiency measure that looks at the cost of care, adjusted for patients' severity and hospital wages. Venice Regional performs well there, Trimble said, because the hospital and its cardiologists carefully examine which drugs and devices to use. "Our doctors are very empirically based and will look at what's effective and cost-effective," she said.

Trimble, who is leaving Venice for another HMA hospital next month, said the four successive awards recognize that the hospital did not become complacent. "We're constantly evaluating how to do better," she said.