Saint Michael's Medical Center Named America's 100 Best for Cardiac Care

Members of Saint Michael's cardiology team. From L-R: Dr. Addi Suleiman, a cardiologist; Dr. Muhammed Shittu, an interventional cardiology fellow; Sheila O'Connor, a nurse practitioner; Richard T. Sullivan, a nurse practitioner; Dr. Abbas Shehadeh, a cardiologist and Isabella Liederman, a radiology technician.

Saint Michael’s was one of only four hospitals in New Jersey to be ranked as one of the nation’s best hospitals for cardiac care. Saint Michael’s is a member of Prime Healthcare, one of the nation’s top health systems for clinical quality.

Healthgrades also named Saint Michael’s among the top 10 percent in the nation for cardiac surgery. The hospital also received Healthgrade’s 2019 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award and Cardiac Care Excellence Award.

Healthgrades also named Saint Michael’s a Five Star Recipient for coronary bypass surgery, treatment of heart attack, treatment of heart failure and for pacemaker procedures.

Every year, Healthgrades evaluates hospital performance at almost 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 32 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions, as well as tracking outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 15 states and the District of Columbia.*

“Hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades America’s Best Hospitals for cardiac care have proven their dedication to quality care and exceptional outcomes,” said Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer at Healthgrades. “Consumers should consider hospital quality when navigating their care journeys, and this recognition distinguishes Saint Michael’s in the marketplace.”

Saint Michael’s has been a leading hospital for heart care for many years. It was the first hospital in New Jersey to perform open-heart surgery and cardiac angioplasty and it was ranked as high performing for treating heart failure by U.S. News and World Report its 2018 Best Hospitals Rankings.

“We are proud to be named among the 100 best hospitals in the nation for cardiac care,” said Dr. Claudia Komer, the chief medical officer at Saint Michael’s. “This award recognizes the ongoing dedication of our medical staff to providing the highest quality care to our patients.”

The achievement is part of findings released today in the Healthgrades 2019 Report to the Nation. The new report demonstrates how clinical performance differs dramatically between hospitals nationally, regionally and at the local level, and the impact that this variation has on health outcomes.

For the 2019 Report to the Nation, Healthgrades compared Specialty Excellence Award Recipients as a group, to all other hospitals, as a group, and found: From 2015-2017, patients treated at hospitals receiving the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care Award have, on average, a 26.9 percent lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.*

From 2015-2017, patients treated at hospitals which did not receive the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care Award are, on average, 1.37 times more likely to die than if they were treated at hospitals that did receive the award.*

Saint Michael’s was also recognized by Healthgrades as a 5-Star Recipient for several of its other services, including for treatment of pneumonia, sepsis, respiratory failure, gallbladder removal surgery and gynecologic procedures.

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for almost 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures, and evaluated outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 15 states and the District of Columbia.

Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories. The complete Healthgrades 2019 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality/.

*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2015 through 2017 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

About Saint Michael’s Medical Center

Established by the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1867, Saint Michael's Medical Center is a 358-bed regional tertiary-care, teaching, and research center in the heart of Newark's business and educational district and is accredited by The Joint Commission. Combining state-of-the-art technology, the latest diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, leading-edge research, and a network of highly qualified physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals, the hospital provides top-quality health care services delivered with compassionate care.

For more information about Saint Michael's Heart & Vascular Institute, click here.