ANN ARBOR, MI -A new health care quality report released by the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition has awarded its highest ranking to the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers in all eight categories of treatment that were evaluated.

As the only hospital surveyed that earned the highest "five bullet" rating in every category, UMHS ratings far exceeded the tough recommendations set forth in the coalition's guidelines.

For the second year in a row, the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition sponsored the survey, and posted its results on the organization's Web site for the public to access. Health plans, major employers, and hospital, physician, consumer, and labor organizations are among the fifteen organizations in the coalition, dedicated to helping improve health care quality and patient safety.

"We are pleased with the survey results,” says Larry Warren, director and CEO of the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers. “In great measure, they reflect the commitment of our faculty and staff to provide the best care and support possible to our patients and their families. We also recognize that it is our commitment to continuous improvement that will keep us ranked among the best hospitals in the country."

The survey included measures of the number of times that several complex surgical procedures were performed at each hospital. Research has shown that patient survival is better at hospitals that perform a higher number of tricky procedures annually. UMHS volume results far surpassed the coalition's minimum threshold in all eight categories.

Compliance with guidelines concerning quality measurement was also evaluated, earning UMHS "five bullets" in each category of activity ratings as well. UMHS also exceeded the guidelines for number of staff physicians in its intensive care units.

"As physicians, we want patients to feel confident that they are receiving the highest, top quality care available," says Darrell Campbell, M.D., UMHS chief of clinical affairs and professor of surgery. "And this survey provides them with the much-needed information to do so."

" This survey goes beyond other surveys of hospital quality in asking hospitals about their efforts to evaluate the appropriateness and clinical outcomes of surgical procedures," says Vinita Bahl, director of Clinical Information Systems, who led the U-M's effort to complete the detailed survey. "Whereas past surveys have focused on volume of procedures, these results are more meaningful to consumers by getting closer to measures that matter for better patient care, such as appropriateness."

The eight categories in the survey were: open heart surgery, percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasty and other ways of opening clogged blood vessels near the heart), abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (to strengthen weakened areas in the largest blood vessel), carotid endarterectomy surgery (to clear blockages in blood vessels in the neck), esophagectomy surgery for cancer (to remove cancerous areas of the esophagus), treatment of low-birthweight infants (who weigh less than three pounds at birth), treatment of infants with congenital abnormalities ("birth defects"), and intensive care physician staffing.

Activity ratings were evaluated according to a five bullet scale based upon how closely each hospital followed the recommended activities portion of the guidelines. Activities included: having and using criteria to determine the medical appropriateness of a procedure or service; having and using risk-adjusted data about the outcomes of care (such as complications and death rates) for each procedure; and a hospital's willingness to submit data to a statewide database to improve safe, quality patient care.

Volume was evaluated based on the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition's recommended thresholds.

According to the Coalition, the survey's results are not intended to present an overall level of hospital quality, but rather to provide patients with one source of information to make better, more informed choices about care in specific treatment areas.

The complete survey results are available online at www.mihealthandsafety.org.

For more information on other recognition that UMHS has earned for its quality of care, both nationally and at the state level, please visit our Quality & Safety Web site.

Written by Lisa Chernikoff

Contact: Kara Gavin

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