Newswise — PinnacleHealth is one of the hospitals representing the highest quality of healthcare available in Pennsylvania, according to the Cardiac Surgery Report by Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). The report covers 29,578 patients who were discharged from a Pennsylvania general acute care hospital after undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and/or heart valve surgery between January 1, 2014, and March 31, 2016.
PinnacleHealth Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery Mubashir Mumtaz, MD, FACS, FACC, performed 555 valve surgeries, more than any other surgeon in Pennsylvania. PinnacleHealth is the only program in the state with combined “significantly lower than expected” mortality and re-admissions for heart valve surgery.
Overall, PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute surgeons performed 560 coronary artery bypass (CABG) and 628 valve surgeries, while maintaining lower mortality and readmission rates.
“These excellent outcomes represent hard work and commitment of our entire team of physicians, nurses, physician assistants and support staff. By bringing together highly passionate specialists, we are able to provide the best treatment option for each individual patient. This teamwork is evident by patients choosing PinnacleHealth for our excellent outcomes and personalized care,” states Dr. Mumtaz. “As a result, we are selected early for clinical trials that bring advances to central Pennsylvania often before they are available elsewhere.”
Grant Little—a 67-year-old semiretired resident of Benton, Pennsylvania—underwent a right-chested aortic valve replacement (iSAVR) on July 22, 2015 (during the PHC4 report timeframe).
Soccer has been a big part of Grant’s life since he was 15—almost as long as he’s lived with an abnormal aortic valve, the structure that allows blood to pass from the heart into the body’s main artery. Grant was born with a valve that has two leaflets instead of the normal three, an abnormality that can eventually allow blood to leak backward into the heart. For decades, the valve gave him no trouble, but he always knew he would eventually need to do something about it. In late 2014, his physicians advised him not to delay surgical treatment much longer.
“All my research said Dr. Mumtaz does more heart valve surgeries than anybody else in the state of Pennsylvania—and that’s who I wanted to have,” stated Grant. “Most importantly, though, I trust Dr. Hubbard, [my regular doctor], and he recommended Dr. Mumtaz. “That carried a lot of weight.”
“We offer leading national outcomes for heart care right here in Harrisburg. Quality and cost reports, such as the Cardiac Surgery Report from PHC4, play a role in helping consumers make more informed choices among the hospitals in their communities. We are thankful for our expert and compassionate cardiac team providing top notch care close to home,” states Michael Huff, vice president, CardioVascular and Pulmonary Services, and president, PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute.
PinnacleHealth is also recognized as Top 10% in the nation for cardiac surgery by Healthgrades with the 2017 Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™. These findings were released by Healthgrades in its 2017 Report to the Nation. The report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals regionally and nationally.
PHC4 is an independent state agency charged with collecting, analyzing and reporting information that can be used to improve the quality of healthcare in Pennsylvania.
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