Kaiser Permanente Hospitals are Heart Care 'High-Performers,' According to U.S. News & World Report

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May 26, 2015, 11:00 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., May 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States, killing approximately 380,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also estimated that more than half a million new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year.

While education and prevention measures such as hypertension screenings are key to preventing heart disease, few organizations treat congestive heart failure patients and perform bypass surgeries as well as Kaiser Permanente, according to the U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals Common Care" ratings, which were released this week.

Twenty-two Kaiser Permanente hospitals were recognized as "high-performing" in at least one of the five rated procedures, including congestive heart failure and heart bypass surgery. The other procedures and conditions surveyed were hip replacement, knee replacement, and treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (or COPD).

"These latest ratings affirm Kaiser Permanente's commitment to being a national leader in health care quality, service and prevention, especially for cardiac care," said Patrick Courneya, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer for Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. "This recognition is attributable not only to our integrated, evidence-based approach, but to the tens of thousands of dedicated physicians, nurses, clinicians and care teams who excel in providing high-quality care and service."

U.S. News evaluated more than 4,600 hospitals nationwide on five common inpatient procedures and conditions and rated them in one of three categories: high performing, average and below average. While nearly 70 percent of Kaiser Permanente hospitals were rated high-performing in at least one category, only about 10 percent of the hospitals evaluated nationwide were rated as high performing in one or more procedures. No Kaiser Permanente hospital received a "below average" rating.

Sixteen Kaiser Permanente hospitals were rated "high-performing" for treatment of congestive heart failure, and all three Kaiser Permanente hospitals in California that perform the vast majority of heart bypass surgeries – Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara and Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles are the cardiac surgery referral centers – were rated "high-performing." In California, of the nearly 330 hospitals included in the report, only 12 others were rated "high-performing" for bypass surgery.

Only 34 hospitals nationwide (less than 2 percent) were rated "high-performing" in all five categories, including Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside in Clackamas, Oregon and Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles.

"These rankings are a celebration of our commitment to keeping the patient at the center of everything we do here at Kaiser Permanente," said Amy Compton-Phillips, MD, chief quality officer for The Permanente Federation, the national umbrella organization for more than 17,000 physicians who provide care to Kaiser Permanente's more than 10 million members.

"Our preventive efforts help keep our members healthy and fit, but when they do enter our hospitals they have regular access to highly skilled, expertly trained physicians, nurses and staff who are committed to delivering compassionate, highest-quality care to every patient who walks through our doors."

U.S. News created Best Hospitals for Common Care this year to help patients find better care for the kinds of common procedures and medical conditions that account for millions of hospitalizations each year. Objective outcome measures such as deaths, infections, readmissions and operations that need to be repeated, as well as patient satisfaction data largely determined the ratings. These ratings rely on Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publicly reported data, as well as survey data from the American Hospital Association and clinical registry data from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Please see the complete rankings.

The U.S. News Best Hospitals for Common Care ratings report is the latest recognition to highlight Kaiser Permanente's diligence to curb heart disease. Hypertension control and cholesterol management have been national priorities for Kaiser Permanente for more than a decade and the efforts have paid off with documented success and best-in-the-nation results.

In the past three years, Kaiser Permanente Southern California (2014), Kaiser Permanente Northern California (2013) and Kaiser Permanente Colorado (2012) have all been recognized as a Hypertension Control Champion by Million Hearts™, a national public-private initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services. The designation signifies a health plan as having had remarkable success controlling hypertension across its entire patient population.

In addition, Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center was named one of just 15 hospitals in the nation to earn top scores in both heart valve and bypass surgery, according to a study by a national consumer magazine.

About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of the nation's leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve more than 10 million members in eight states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: kp.org/share.

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SOURCE Kaiser Permanente