Southwest General Earns Three-Star Rating From Society Of Thoracic Surgeons

From Southwest General: Southwest General has earned a distinguished three- star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Southwest General among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the U.S. and Canada.

Per the STS, the star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the U.S. and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.

Historically, approximately 10-15 percent of participants receive the three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a one-year period, from July 2015 through June 2016.

“This rating is yet another validation of the high quality of cardiac surgical care provided at Southwest General,” said William A. Young, Jr., president and chief executive officer, Southwest General. “Our coronary artery bypass surgery program has long been focused on delivering the best care possible to our patients in a convenient, accessible community location. With the STS rating, patients and their families can rest assured that they have an objective evaluation of the heart care available here.”

The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The Database includes three components:

•  Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD)
•  Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD)
•  General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD)

The STS ACSD houses more than six million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,600 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90 percent of groups that perform heart surgery in the U.S. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report to each other and the public their heart surgery scores and star ratings.

“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shahian, MD, chair of the STS council on Quality, Research and Patient Safety. “Participation in the Database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in health care delivery and helps provide patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about health care.”

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