Kaweah Delta named among America's Best in Cardiac

VISALIA – Kaweah Delta today was recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals™ for Cardiac Surgery and America’s 100 Best Hospitals™ for Cardiac Care. Kaweah Delta is just one of four hospitals in California, and the only one in the Central Valley, to receive these distinctions.

The achievements are part of findings released today in the Healthgrades 2018 Report to the Nation, which also recognizes Kaweah Delta’s commitment to quality care with six additional recognitions in the Healthgrades 2018 Report to the Nation, released today, including:

• Recipient of the Healthgrades 2018 Cardiac Care Excellence Award™
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™ for 2 Years in a Row (2017-2018)
• Named Among the Top 5 percent in the Nation for Cardiac Surgery in 2018
• Named Among the Top 10% in the Nation for Overall Cardiac Services in 2018
• Five-Star Recipient for Coronary Bypass Surgery for 2 Years in a Row (2017-2018)
• Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Attack for 2 Years in a Row (2017-2018)

“For more than 50 years, it has been our goal to provide the highest level of exceptional locally-based care to our community. These distinctions illustrate just that, and highlight how Kaweah Delta’s dedicated team of physicians, nurses and clinical staff at Kaweah Delta is committed to improving the lives of patients,” said Edward Hirsch, M.D., Vice President and Chief Medical and Quality Officer at Kaweah Delta.

In determining its cardiac quality awards, Healthgrades evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals nationwide for 34 of the most common inpatient procedures and conditions.* Healthgrades identified the best-performing hospitals across all conditions or procedures evaluated within the cardiac services area including Bypass Surgery, Valve Surgery, Coronary Intervention Procedures, Heart Attack, Heart Failure, Defibrillator Procedures and Pacemaker Procedures.

The new Healthgrades’ report demonstrates how clinical performance continues to differ dramatically between hospitals nationally, regionally and at the local level, and the impact that this variation may have on health outcomes. For example, from 2014-2016, the report notes that patients treated at hospitals receiving the America's 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery Award have, on average 52.4% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive the award and patients treated at hospitals that did not receive the America's 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care Award are, on average 1.39 times more likely to die than if they were treated at hospitals that did receive the award.*

*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2014 through 2016 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

Kaweah Delta offers a full range of cardiovascular services in partnership with the following physicians: Cardiothoracic Surgeons Sergio Caminha, M.D. and Leheb Araim, M.D.; and Cardiologists Basil Abu-El-Haija, M.D., Ashkan Attaran, M.D., Kusai Aziz, M.D., Sukhvinder Bhajal, M.D., David Cislowski, M.D., Frank Gavini, M.D., Reza Rafie, M.D., H. Rajender Reddy, M.D., Bindusagar Reddy, M.D., Shashi Sharma, M.D., Shailesh Shetty, M.D., Bikram Soni, M.D., and Nallathamby Thayapran, M.D. Dennis Johnson, M.D., Harry Lively, M.D., Vinod Gupta, M.D., Barry Meyer, M.D., Ashok Verma, M.D., Aditya Verma, M.D., and Ankur Gupta, M.D., John Lin, M.D.

Based in Visalia, Kaweah Delta is a leader in heart care through the support of board-certified cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, vascular surgeons and cardiac anesthesiologists, who work with Kaweah Delta's dedicated heart team. This team is made up of physicians, highly-specialized health professionals qualified to take care of a person’s heart and lungs, and registered nurses specially trained to care for critical care patients. Together, they work as a team to provide patients with integrated, specialized, and scientific-based medicine – all the specialized care and support needed for heart care in Visalia. Patients are provided 24-hour care both before and after surgery.

Brad Bowman, M.D., Healthgrades, Chief Medical Officer, said while many consumers believe that hospital quality is standardized, the reality is that clinical quality and outcomes at hospitals vary widely across the country. “The hospitals that have achieved the Healthgrades America’s Best Hospitals for cardiac distinction have demonstrated a commitment to exceptional quality of care and can distinguish themselves to consumers seeking care at high-quality facilities,” he said.

**For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 45 million Medicare inpatient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide to assess hospital performance in 32 common conditions and procedures, and evaluate outcomes in appendectomy and bariatric surgery using all-payer data provided by 17 states. Healthgrades recognizes a hospital’s quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5-star (statistically significantly better than expected), 3-star (not statistically different from expected) and 1-star (statistically significantly worse than expected) categories. The complete Healthgrades 2018 Report to the Nation and detailed study methodology can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality.