St. Joseph’s Health One of 14 in Nation to Earn Highest Quality Rating

Syracuse, NY (June 26, 2017) – The Cardiac Surgery team at St. Joseph’s Health earned the highest rating, three out of three stars, from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). The STS Adult Surgery Report includes data collected from 1,017 participant organizations between January 2014 and December 2016 in three cardiac surgery categories: isolated coronary artery grafting bypass (CABG; based on 2016 data), isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) and combined AVR and CABG surgery.

St. Joseph’s Health is one of only 14 hospitals in the United States and Canada to achieve three stars in all three rating areas of the STS Database.

“St. Joseph’s integrated network allows us to deliver the highest level of patient-centered cardiac surgery care,” said Randy Green, MD, cardiac surgeon and medical director of the St. Joseph’s Health Cardiac Surgery service line. “We strive to provide the highest quality care possible to every patient, every time. Recognition by prestigious organizations like the Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a testament to the talents and commitment of our cardiac surgery team.”

Established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety, the STS Database ratings will be made available to the public this summer on the society's website: https://www.sts.org.

Additionally, St. Joseph’s Health received the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CABG readmission report for the period of July 2013 – June 2016, revealing St. Joseph’s readmissions are statistically better than the national rate. St. Joseph’s is the only hospital in New York State to achieve this level of performance, and one of only six nationally.

St. Joseph’s Health has the most awarded cardiovascular care program in the region – with nearly a dozen different accreditations, certifications, and recognitions for cardiovascular care – and has been the first to bring several new cardiovascular procedures to Central New York.

For more information about St. Joseph’s cardiac surgery program, visit www.sjhsyr.org/cardiac.

About St. Joseph’s Health

St. Joseph’s Health is a non-profit regional health care system based in Syracuse, N.Y., providing services to patients throughout Central New York and northern Pennsylvania. From primary to specialty to home care, to our Magnet-recognized hospital, and in collaboration with our community partners, St. Joseph's Health is advancing the health of the communities we serve through an expanding range of healthcare services to ensure our patients achieve optimum long-term health. Ranked by Consumer Reports among the top 15 heart surgery centers in the country, U.S. News “Best Regional Hospital” and a 15-time winner of the National Research Corporation Consumer Choice award, St. Joseph’s is widely recognized for quality, value and delivering the highest patient satisfaction. St. Joseph’s Health is affiliated with Franciscan Companies and St. Joseph’s Physicians and is a part of Trinity Health.

About The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Founded in 1964, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a not-for-profit organization representing more than 7,200 surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest.