Ratings & Recognition
The U-M Cardiovascular Center is one of the nation's top-rated centers for heart and blood vessel care. We are honored to be recognized by many organizations and publications that have cited our programs and people as leaders in a broad array of fields.
Some examples:
U-M Cardiovascular Center best in state
The 2009 U.S. News and World Report's Best Hospitals ranks the heart and heart surgery programs at University of Michigan as the best among Michigan hospitals. This reflects the work done at the U-M Cardiovascular Center and its clinics. Heart and heart surgery rose by two spots up to 16 from 18. The rankings cover 170 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and the top 50 U.S. hospitals are listed. Read the release
Hospital Compare, a service run by a coalition of government and non-profit groups, also rates U-M cardiovascular care very highly. Hospital Compare rates hospitals' performance on delivery of certain proven medications and lifestyle counseling, and the U-M performed far better than state or national averages on every measure for which we were measured. For instance, 100 percent of our heart failure patients were tested to measure the "ejection fraction," or pumping power, of their heart's left ventricle. And 100 percent of our heart attack patients received aspirin when they arrived at our hospital and again when they were discharged. Learn more, and see U-M's report here.
Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) is an in-hospital program designed to improve acute stroke treatment and prevent future strokes and cardiovascular events. GWTG-Stroke focuses on quick diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients through Primary Stroke Centers. It also involves care team protocols once patients are admitted to ensure that they are treated and discharged appropriately. UMHS is the only hospital in Michigan to achieve the Gold Performance Awards. Hospitals that have earned a Gold Performance Award follow treatment guidelines in certain key measures at least 85 percent of the time, and have maintained this performance level for two years or more. Read more. (PDF)
More About U-M CVC Achievements
Three U-M CVC programs have met strict national criteria to achieve official certification from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the same body that rigorously reviews hospitals. The CVC has been recognized for the high quality and coordinated care provided within our Disease Management programs for patients with heart failure and stroke, and for our the heart-assisting device program, which cares for patients who rely on ventricular assist devices (VADs).
The U-M Health System is one of the first 10 medical centers in the country to take part in Medicare's new program to measure and improve the quality of health care for all Medicare participants. Our heart disease management programs are a major component of this effort, and are being made available to Medicare participants with complex medical problems who are being treated by any U-M physician.
U-M's high-quality heart care has led the American College of Cardiology and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to tap U-M experts to lead quality-improvement projects that involve many hospitals. Our research shows these multi-center projects have saved both lives and dollars. Now, these projects are serving as models for many other hospitals.
The Michigan Health & Safety Coalition's 2006 report shows that U-M far exceeded the thresholds for the recommended number of all cardiovascular procedures measured by the Coalition. This means U-M patients can be confident that our surgical and procedure teams have high levels of experience that go hand-in-hand with good outcomes. The procedures measured by the MHSC are: open-heart surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention (angioplasty and stenting), abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and carotid endarterectomy surgery.
The Leapfrog Group,a national nonprofit that set standards for high-quality and safe health care, and measures hospitals' performance against those standards, also gives U-M high marks for cardiovascular care. On all three heart-related measures -- coronary artery bypass surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention (angioplasty and stenting) and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair - U-M was rated in 2007 with the highest or the second-highest possible rating. Additionally, U-M received the highest possible rating possible in the measures of ICU staffing and Safe Practices. Very few hospitals nationwide have achieved the highest rating. Learn more about Leapfrog ratings by following the instructions for consumers to see U-M's ratings.
