Munroe Regional is proud to announce that it has been named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals for cardiovascular care by Thomson Healthcare. Munroe Regional is one of only two hospitals in the United States and the only community hospital that has received this distinction every year since its inception in 1999.

"Munroe Regional Medical Center is honored to be recognized by Thomson Healthcare as a Top 100 Hospital for cardiovascular care for the ninth consecutive year," said Steve Purves, president and CEO of Munroe Regional. "To be one of only two hospitals in the United States to receive this distinction every year since its inception is a direct reflection of the quality and skill of our physicians, nurses, and support staff."

The annual Thomson Healthcare award is based on hospitals' performance treating congestive heart failure and heart attacks. The award uses only statistical informtion to select the top performers from nearly 1,000 hospitals across the country. The 2007 winners were announced November 19 in Modern Healthcare magazine.

"These winning hospitals bring great value to their communities," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president for performance improvement and 100 Top Hospitals programs in the Center for Healthcare Improvement, Thomson Healthcare. "They have set national benchmarks for clinical process, outcomes, efficiency and cost-effectiveness."

The Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success award names hospitals that have achieved the highest national scores (benchmarks) on a set of important measures of cardiovascular care. Among the key findings from the 2007 Thomson 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study:

• If all cardiovascular hospitals achieved the same results as the 100 Top Hospitals award winners, more than 7,000 lives would be saved and nearly 750 medical complications would be avoided annually.
• The award winners reported hospital stays that were 12 percent shorter, on average, than peer hospitals (5.14 days compared with 5.85 days).
• The 100 Top Hospitals reported costs that averaged 13 percent - or about $2,000 - less per case than peer hospitals.
• There was a large different in the volume of heart procedures performed by the winning hosptials and their peers. The 100 Top Hospitals performed nearly two-thirds more coronary artery bypass grafts and percutaneous coronary interventions such as angioplasty.

Thomson Healthcare scored facilities in eight key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, risk-adjusted complications, core measures score, percentage of CABG patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage-and severity-adjusted average cost.

The measures were calculated for three classes of hospitals with the following number of winners in each:

• Teaching with cardiovascular residency programs, 30 winners.
• Teaching without cardiovascular residency programs, 40 winners.
• Community, 30 winners.

Thomson Healthcare is the leading provider of decision support solutions that help organizations across the healthcare industry improve clinical and business performance. Thomson Healthcare products and services help clinicians, hospitals, employers, health plans, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies manage the cost and improve the quality of healthcare.

More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at at www.100tophospitals.com.

For more information please contact Ryan Gerds, Community Relations Coordinator at Munroe Regional, at (352) 402-5206 or email Ryan Gerds.