St. Francis has state’s lowest heart attack, pneumonia death rates; well below national average

INDIANAPOLIS – St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers has the lowest heart attack and pneumonia death rates among Indiana hospitals and has a heart attack ranking of 19th – the top 1 percent nationally -- according to a report released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The CMS findings, which were published in a recent USA Today article, are based on more than 1 million deaths and readmissions among Medicare patients from 2005 to 2008. More than 4,600 hospitals across the nation were analyzed for their heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia death rates.

The heart attack death rate at St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis is 12.3 percent, the lowest of any Indiana hospital – and significantly less than the 16.6 percent national 30-day average.

The pneumonia death rate at St. Francis-Indianapolis and St. Francis Hospital-Beech Grove is 7.8 percent (the lowest in Indiana) and 9.7 percent, respectively. Both rates are considerably below the national 30-day rate of 11.5 percent.

St. Francis also had the lowest readmission rates for pneumonia patients in Marion County.

Heart failure death rates at both St. Francis hospitals were less than or no different from the national 11.1 percent rate, according to the CMS study.

““We are continually looking at ways to improve our performance to better serve our patients at all of our hospitals,” said Robert J. Brody, St. Francis president and chief executive officer. “Certainly, the CMS study attests to our commitment to our goals and our overarching health-care ministry.”

The CMS report comes in the wake of St. Francis’ earning national recognition for implementing the American Heart Association’s/American Stroke Association’s programs to treat coronary artery disease, stroke and heart failure.

St. Francis received the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Bronze Performance Achievement. The recognition also means that St. Francis attained an aggressive goal of treating patients for at least 90 days with 85 percent compliance to the core standard levels outlined by the AHA and American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.

Previously St. Francis received both the bronze and silver awards for its achievements in the area of coronary artery disease and will receive the Gold Award later this month (acute myocardial infarction) from the AHA.

To see how St. Francis performed and to compare with other local and state hospitals, go to www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-07-09-hospital-deaths_N.htm<.