CJW Medical Center Rated Best in Virginia for Overall Cardiac Services

HealthGrades Study Finds Patient Outcomes at CJW Medical Center Top all Others

Richmond, Va. (October 15, 2007) – CJW Medical Center has been named the top rated hospital in Virginia for overall cardiac services for the second year in a row.  Nationally, CJW ranks among the top 5 percent for overall cardiac services and heart surgery.  The rankings are based on the tenth annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study. 

Patients admitted to the nation’s top-performing hospitals—five-star hospitals like CJW Medical Center—have, on average, a 71 percent lower chance of dying, than those treated at one-star hospitals, across 18 procedures and conditions, according to a study released today by HealthGrades.  HealthGrades is the nation’s leading independent ratings company.

CJW Medical Center also received the following recognitions:

• Recipient of HealthGrades specialty excellence awards for both Cardiac Care and Cardiac Surgery – two years in a row
• Best rated in the Richmond area for cardiac services for eight years in a row
• Five-star rated for several procedures and diagnoses including: coronary bypass surgery, valve replacement surgery, coronary interventional procedures, carotid surgery, treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pancreatitis, GI bleed, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, and stroke

“We are extremely proud of the physicians and staff at The Levinson Heart Hospital who are wholly committed to providing outstanding quality patient care and ensuring the best possible outcome for every patient, every time,” said Peter Marmerstein, CEO at CJW Medical Center.  “This recognition by an independent ratings organization is validation of that commitment, and gives consumers important quality care information they need when choosing a hospital for their family’s medical needs.”

“Our research shows that while the overall quality of hospital care in America is improving, the gap between the best-performing hospitals and the worst persists,” said Dr. Samantha Collier, HealthGrades’ chief medical officer and author of the study. “This persistent gap makes it imperative that anyone planning to be admitted to a hospital do their homework and seek out highly rated facilities.”

The Tenth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study identifies key trends in the quality of care provided by approximately 5,000 hospitals nationwide. HealthGrades researchers analyzed Medicare discharges from every U.S. hospital between 2004 and 2006. Risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates were calculated and hospitals were assigned a 1-star (poor), 3-star (as expected), or 5-star (best) quality rating for 28 diagnoses and procedures from heart failure to hip replacement to pneumonia. Individual hospital quality results from this study are available at www.healthgrades.com.

About CJW Medical Center
CJW Medical Center has 758 beds on its two campuses. Chippenham, in the city of Richmond, offers a state-designated trauma center, The Levinson Heart Hospital and Tucker Pavilion; while Johnston-Willis, in Chesterfield County, offers the Thomas Johns Cancer Hospital and the Neuroscience & Gamma Knife Center.

The 2008 HealthGrades ratings for all hospitals nationwide are available, free of charge, on the organization’s award-winning consumer Web site, located at www.healthgrades.com.  More than three million individuals and employees of some of the nation’s largest employers and health plans visit HealthGrades each month to access quality information about hospitals, nursing homes and physicians. HealthGrades also provides consumers and payers with detailed assessments of hospitals’ patient-safety outcomes, based on indicators developed by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.