Which CNY Hospital's Mortality Rate for the Most Complex Heart Surgeries Scored Best in the State?

Syracuse, NY (September 27, 2016) — St. Joseph’s Health announced today that St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center is the only hospital in New York State with a mortality rate significantly lower than the state-wide "Risk Adjusted Mortality Rate" for valve procedures and valve procedures performed with coronary artery bypass grafting.

According to the Adult Cardiac Surgery in New York State report released this month by the New York State Department of Health (DOH), St. Joseph’s is the only hospital in the state that can claim it has a risk-adjusted mortality rate that is significantly lower than the statewide mortality rate for these complicated valve operations and valve procedures performed with coronary bypass based on a 95 percent confidence level. Additionally, the St. Joseph’s Cardiac Surgery Program was one of only three programs in New York State to score statistically significantly better than the state average for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting, isolated valve surgery and valve surgery performed with coronary bypass grafting as a composite endpoint.

The report was developed with clinical guidance from the NYS Cardiac Advisory Committee, an advisory body to the Commissioner of Health consisting of nationally recognized cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and others from related disciplines working both in New York State and elsewhere. It contains information on mortality after CABG surgery and valve repair or replacement surgery, readmissions after CABG, and preliminary information on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in NYS.

"Heart disease is the leading cause of death in New York State" said Dr. Randy Green, Program Director of Cardiac Surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. "It takes a dedicated team of exceptional individuals working together to perform complex cardiac surgeries to combat the long-term effects of cardiovascular disease. And while we are proud of our team for achieving these outstanding results, our top priority is getting our patients to commit to a healthier lifestyle. Some risk factors, such as heredity, gender and age cannot be controlled, but others such as cholesterol, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity certainly may. Paying careful attention to these risk factors may not guarantee avoiding heart surgery, but will reduce an individual’s likelihood of being among the statistics in future publications of this Report."

Last month, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center was recognized again as a "Best Regional Hospital" and ranked #13 in New York State by U.S. News & World Report. St. Joseph’s is the only hospital in our region to have achieved this recognition – receiving "Best in Syracuse Metro" and "Best in Central New York" recognitions. The hospital ranked as high performing in all nine areas that are measured—two of which are specific to the types of complex surgery also measured in the DOH report: Aortic Valve Surgery and Heart Bypass Surgery.




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.




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