Orlando Health's Heart Care and Cancer Care Recognized with Highest Quality Rating
Orlando Health received its fourth consecutive Overall 3 Star Rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons for providing excellent care to patients undergoing bypass surgery as well as a fourth consecutive 3 Star rating for care delivered to patients having a lobectomy for lung cancer. The organization also received its second consecutive 3 star rating for aortic valve surgery. For the first time the organization received an Overall 3 Star Rating for aortic valve replacement with bypass surgery.
The 3 Star Rating, the highest achievable, is a quality score based
on hospital statistics and outcomes in the Society’s Adult Cardiac Surgery
Database and the Society’s General Thoracic Surgery Database. The most recent
evaluation period is July 2015 through June 2016 for bypass surgery, July 2013
to June 2016 for aortic valve replacement, July 2013 to June 2016 for aortic
valve replacement with bypass surgery, and July 2013 through June 2016 for lung
cancer surgery.
“The quality ratings reflect our ongoing commitment and efforts to
ensure we deliver excellent cardiac surgical care for our patients,” said
Jeffrey Bott, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Orlando Health Heart & Vascular Institute
and chair of the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Orlando Health’s
Orlando Regional Medical Center. “It is important for us to remain committed to
quality and transparency to give patients the information and assurance they
need when they choose our program. We are proud to be in the top ten percent in
the nation as judged by peers for avoiding complications and mortality, and for
providing proper medication administration.”
The Heart Institute’s success in cardiac surgery performance is the
result of expertise, experience, collaboration, and a voluntary, self-run
quality council. The council — comprised of surgeons, nurses, pharmacists,
respiratory therapists, infection control specialists, risk managers,
administrators, doctors and other team members — works diligently on various
quality improvement initiatives and care reviews for each of our processes
including pre-surgical preparation, surgical management, avoidance of
complications and death and post-surgical medical management.
The Overall 3 Star Rating for
bypass surgery represents four areas of quality:
1. Absence of Mortality
(Deaths)
2. Absence of Morbidity
(Complications)
3. Use of Internal Mammary
Arteries (Arteries located in the chest and commonly used in bypass surgery
because they have been shown to have the best long-term results.)
4. Medications (Appropriate
perioperative (before, during and after) medication usage.)
The cardiac database was established in 1989 as an initiative for
quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The
Adult Cardiac Surgery Database, now contains more than 6 million surgical
records, represents an estimated 90 percent of all adult cardiac surgery centers
across the United States.
The thoracic surgery program at UF-Health Cancer Center - Orlando
Health has participated in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons General Thoracic
Surgery Database since 2007.
"It is a great honor to be recognized by the Society of Thoracic
Surgeons – an organization focused on the development of leadership in quality,
research, and patient safety,” said Luis Herrera, MD, thoracic surgeon UF Health
Cancer Center - Orlando Health. “This recognition speaks to the persistent level
of dedication our team places on ensuring our patients are receiving the highest
quality of care. It furthers our program’s continuing leadership in areas such
as minimally invasive and robotic surgery.”
The Overall 3 Star Rating for lobectomy represents two areas
of quality outcomes:
1. Absence of Mortality
(Deaths)
2. Absence of Major
Complication