Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital has been named the third best among 50 U.S. hospitals for heart attack treatment, according to a health care industry publication.
The ranking is based on hospital readmissions within 30 days for patients who were treated for a heart attack. Becker's Hospital Review, which provides business and legal news and analysis related to hospitals, used public data submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from 2007 to 2010.
Memorial hospital's 30-day readmission rate was 15.4 percent, compared to a national average of 19.8 percent, according to Medicare data. The results, based on a review of 316 patients, is risk-adjusted and takes into account how sick patients were before being admitted for a heart attack.
Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina and St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, Ore. took first and second place on the list.
Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital's sister facility, St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, finished fifth. St. Joseph Health in Sonoma County operates Memorial Hospital and Petaluma Valley Hospital.
Since the opening of Memorial's $57 million Norma and Evert Person Heart & Vascular Institute in 2008, improving cardiac and vascular treatment has been a growing priority for the hospital.
"It's a huge deal. This is the latest and greatest hospital data to compare," Trish Scalercio, manager of the institute, said of Memorial's ranking.
The institute has collaborated with the hospital's emergency department, setting up processes to improve response time for treating heart attack patients, Scalercio said.
The institute also has strengthened its relations with outlying hospitals and worked closely with North Coast cardiologists who "have played a huge huge role in all of this. They are part of the team," she said
Before the institute opened, the hospital's average "door-to-balloon" time was 80 minutes. The term refers to time from when a patient enters the emergency department to having the artery opened, providing blood flow back into the heart.
The time is critical because a fast response can lessen cardiac damage. The hospital's average door-to-balloon time has been reduced to 61 minutes, Scalercio said.
You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com
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