Media Contact: Sandra VanE-mail: [email protected]Telephone: 1-800-880-2397
LOS ANGELES (March 22, 2002) -- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was one of 10 hospitals in the state to record better than expected outcomes among heart attack patients in the last three reports compiled by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).
According to OSHPD, this "exceptional record in all three reports represents a consistently superior outcome over an eight year time span." Each report covers a three-year period, with the recently released report based on outcome statistics from 1996 through 1998. Previous reports included 1994 through 1996, and 1991 through 1993.
Cedars-Sinai was also one of only four hospitals in Los Angeles County to provide "significantly better than expected" outcomes on both of the statistical models used by OSHPD to collect and analyze information and produce its Report on Heart Attack Outcomes. Cedars-Sinai and St. John's Health Center were the only two hospitals in the county to achieve these outcomes on both models and be listed among the 10 hospitals in the state to have better than expected outcomes in all three reports.
OSHPD notes that about 40,000 heart attack patients are admitted each year to 400 hospitals in California, and more than 5,000 of these patients die. The report "is intended to encourage all California hospitals to improve their care and give credit to the hospitals that are the leaders. It can also help insurers, employers, and consumers to select hospitals based on quality of care."
The report consists of several volumes that provide details on methodology as well as specific mortality numbers for each of the hospitals included in the study. OSHPD used several factors, such as patient age and type of heart attack "to adjust for differences in patient risk when calculating hospital mortality rates." Furthermore, it conducted a major study to ensure that "variations in how hospitals report their data to OSHPD do not significantly affect their risk-adjusted death rates."
In the latest analysis of figures from 1996 through 1998, the statewide death rate according to statistical Model A was 12.08912 percent. On Model B, the statewide death rate was 12.10683 percent.
Cedars-Sinai's "expected death rate" was 14.7 percent on Model A and 14.5 percent on Model B, an indication that Cedars-Sinai's patients had higher risk, on average, than the statewide population.
The medical center's actual or "observed death rate" was 12.4 percent on both models, but its risk-adjusted death rate was 10.2 percent on Model A and 10.4 percent on Model B.
According to the report, this adjusted rate reflects "what the rate would be if the patients were about as ill as 'average' patients in the state.
"Cedars-Sinai's consistently excellent performance in these reports is a direct reflection of the innovation and dedication of our cardiothoracic surgeons, under the guidance of Dr. Alfredo Trento, and our cardiologists, directed by Dr. P.K. Shah. Our physicians, surgeons and scientists conduct basic research, develop and implement the most advanced technologies, and aggressively translate new discoveries into novel approaches to patient care," said Thomas M. Priselac, president and CEO.
"Our nursing staff, technical support professionals and other members of the patient care team share this commitment to excellence," he added. "The success rates we're seeing are a testament to their day to day devotion to saving lives and improving the quality of life."
The complete OSHPD report and the previous two can be found online at http://www.oshpd.state.ca.us.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is one of the largest non-profit academic medical centers in the Western United States. For the fifth straight two-year period, Cedars-Sinai has been named Southern California's gold standard in health care in an independent survey. Cedars-Sinai is internationally renowned for its diagnostic and treatment capabilities and its broad spectrum of programs and services, as well as breakthrough in biomedical research and superlative medical education. Named one of the 100 "Most Wired" hospitals in health care in 2001, the Medical Center ranks among the top 10 non-university hospitals in the nation for its research activities.
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For media information and to arrange an interview, please contact Sandra Van via e-mail at [email protected] or call 1-800-880-2397.
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