Prairie Heart at St. John’s heart attack survival rates among best in nation

Contact: Brian Reardon (217) 544-6464, ext. 44306.

SPRINGFIELD – A report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) shows that the Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s Hospital had the best survival rate for heart attack patients in Illinois, and the 12th best survival rate in the U. S. during the period of July 2006 through June 2007.

Last week, CMS released its first ever report on the 30-day risk-adjusted mortality rate for heart attack patients who received care at 4,311 hospitals across the nation. Prairie Heart’s rate of 12.8 percent compared to the U.S. average of 16.1 percent. Lower mortality rates indicate higher quality care.

The CMS report on mortality rates is part of an ongoing effort to inform the public on how hospitals perform on certain standards.

“Although we are gratified by the CMS data recently published by USA Today, this type of information needs to be taken in context and needs to be considered with other sources of data. These results, however, do support our other more scientific data which indicates that heart care at the Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s is among the best in the nation,” said Charles Lucore, MD, Prairie Cardiovascular, Medical Director of Cardiology at St. John’s Hospital.

The CMS report follows a report earlier this year from the ACTION Registry (Acute Coronary Treatment and Intervention Outcomes Network) that placed Prairie Heart Institute at St. John’s in the top two percent of hospitals nationally for treatment of heart attacks. The ACTION report also showed that the average time to treatment of the heart attack at Prairie Heart Institute in 2007 was among the fastest in the nation at 51 minutes. Adherence to national treatment guidelines led Prairie Heart to save almost twice as many lives compared to the top performers in the registry.

In addition, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons last year awarded its highest designation - three stars - to Prairie Heart’s cardiac surgery program. To view the mortality rates visit USA Today's Web site and view an interactive U. S. map.