Health First Heart & Vascular Program Earns Prestigious Three-Star Rating for Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Health First’s Heart & Vascular Program among elite heart bypass surgery in U.S. and Canada

“Our patients and their loved ones put their utmost trust in the skill, knowledge and hands of their surgical team, and when cardiac surgery of any form is advised, we want them to be comfortable and confident that they will receive the very best care,” said Matthew Campbell, MD, chief cardiothoracic surgeon. “A coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is a highly complex procedure, and so this honor certainly reaffirms to our patients that this team has met the highest levels of excellence.” (Health First image)

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Health First’s Heart & Vascular Program has received a prestigious 3-star overall isolated CABG recognition from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The honor recognizes Health First’s patient care and outcomes relative to isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures.

The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Health First’s Heart & Vascular Program among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.

The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.

“Our patients and their loved ones put their utmost trust in the skill, knowledge and hands of their surgical team, and when cardiac surgery of any form is advised, we want them to be comfortable and confident that they will receive the very best care,” said Matthew Campbell, MD, chief cardiothoracic surgeon.

“A coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is a highly complex procedure, and so this honor certainly reaffirms to our patients that this team has met the highest levels of excellence.”

“This is a tremendous honor for the entire Heart and Vascular team at Health First, highlighting our commitment to quality and patient outcomes,” said Seiichi Noda, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon. “This 3-star rating is a true testament to high level of expertise, care and service our team and the Heart & Vascular program at Health First have built.” (Health First image)

“This is a tremendous honor for the entire Heart and Vascular team at Health First, highlighting our commitment to quality and patient outcomes,” added Seiichi Noda, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon. “This 3-star rating is a true testament to high level of expertise, care and service our team and the Heart & Vascular program at Health First have built.”

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), also called heart bypass surgery, is a medical procedure to improve blood flow to the heart. It may be needed when the arteries supplying blood to the heart, called coronary arteries, are narrowed or blocked.

Surgeons may recommend the surgery to either lower your risk of a heart attack if one is suffering from coronary heart disease, or in an emergency situation – to treat a severe heart attack.

CABG uses healthy blood vessels from another part of the body and connects them to blood vessels above and below the blocked artery. This creates a new route for blood to flow that bypasses the narrowed or blocked coronary arteries. The blood vessels are usually arteries from the arm or chest, or veins from the legs.

Health First’s Heart & Vascular Program has received a prestigious 3-star overall isolated CABG recognition from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The honor recognizes Health First’s patient care and outcomes relative to isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures.

Approximately 20 percent of participants receive a three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a 3-year period.

“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shahian, MD, chair of the Task Force on Quality Measurement. “Participation in the Database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in health care delivery and helps provide patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about health care.”

The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The Database includes four components: the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), the Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), and the mechanical circulatory support database (Intermacs).

The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.9 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,800 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90% of groups that perform heart surgery in the US. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report to each other and the public their heart surgery scores and star ratings.

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