Ascension Sacred Heart named one of the nation’s 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals

This is the fifth time that Ascension Sacred Heart’s Pensacola hospital has been recognized with this national honor.

The recognition is based on IBM Watson Health’s annual study that spotlights the top-performing cardiovascular hospitals in the U.S., based on a balanced, objective scorecard of publicly-available data.

“This award is a well-deserved recognition of the excellent quality of care provided by our cardiovascular specialists –- both the physicians and all of the hospital staff who care for our cardiac patients,” said Dawn Rudolph, president of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola. “The study determined that our Pensacola hospital is able to deliver consistently high quality care with better outcomes for patients while operating more efficiently and at a lower cost. This included treatments for patients experiencing heart attacks or heart failure, and those who needed cardiovascular surgery or procedures.”

This year's study included 951 U.S. hospitals with cardiovascular service lines. Compared to similar cardiovascular hospitals, this year’s winning hospitals had better results on indicators intended to measure patient survival rates and complications, operational efficiency, financial performance, and patient satisfaction.

“Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the hospitals recognized on the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals list are providing quality care in one of the most critical areas,” said Ekta Punwani, 100 Top Hospitals Program Leader, IBM Watson Health. “Hospitals are constantly working to improve clinical and operational performance, and the exceptional organizations on this list demonstrate the standard for top performing cardiac care."

Some of the objective research measures used in the study included:

• Inpatient mortality rates for patients who have heart attacks or heart failure, or who undergo coronary bypass surgery or non-surgical procedures to treat narrowing of the coronary arteries.
• Complication rates for patients who had heart bypass surgeries and interventional procedures
• Readmission rates within 30 days of hospital treatment
• Average length of hospital stay for cardiac patients
• Average cost per case

The researchers found that winning hospitals delivered significantly higher inpatient survival rates with fewer complications and lower readmission rates.

Learn more about the IBM Watson study.