Top 100 Heart Hospital Rating

Asheville does it; why can't we?

The best North Carolina hospital for heart patients isn't Duke or UNC. It's Mission Hospitals in Asheville, according to a private study of roughly 1,000 hospitals nationwide. Mission is the only institution in either of the Carolinas to be ranked among the country's top 100 cardiac centers. It's made the list six times.

Asheville, which trudged in the doldrums for years, now seems to do a lot of things well. Its political and civic leaders know how to make good plans and execute them successfully. Our region's leaders could learn from what's happening in the pretty city on the western side of the state.

So, apparently, could our hospitals.

- Editorial reprinted from the Star News, Wilmington, NC, November 24, 2007

Mission has been named a Top 100 Heart Hospital and, for the second year in a row, is the only hospital in the Carolinas to receive the designation. This is the 6th year in a row, and the 7th time in the past eight years, that Mission has been named one of the nation's Top 100 Heart Hospitals by the Thomson (formerly Solucient) Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Program. Mission was named in the category of teaching hospitals without cardiovascular residency.

The award puts Mission in good company. Other recipients this year include the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, University of Virginia Medical Center, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The closest other recipients are in Tennessee: Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville and Wellmont Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport.

The study examined the performance of nearly 1,000 U.S. hospitals by analyzing their outcomes for eight measures related to congestive heart failure, heart attacks, coronary artery bypass grafts (CABGs), and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), such as angioplasties. The study found that the 100 Top Hospitals award winners had:

• Hospital stays that were 12 percent shorter, on average, than peer hospitals (5.14 days compared with 5.85 days).

• Costs that averaged 13 percent - or about $2,000 - less per case than peer hospitals. According to Thomson, if all acute care heart hospitals in the nation performed at the same level as Mission and the other top 100 heart hospitals, more than 7,000 lives would be saved, and nearly 750 medical complications would be avoided each year.

Learn more about Mission's Heart Services.