Document text
RRMC best in U.S. in limiting heart attack re-admissions Friday Apr 28, 2017 at 5:50 PM Apr 28, 2017 at 5:50 PM Bob Hunter Mail Tribune @mteditor Medford's Rogue Regional Medical Center ranked No. 1 in the nation in limiting re-admissions for heart attack patients, according to numbers recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS. The ranking put the Asante hospital at the head of more than 5,000 hospitals included in the review, for the period of 2012 to 2015. The rankings, released in March, are based on hospital re-admissions for Medicare patients that occurred within 30 days of release. Scott Kelly, the CEO of RRMC, said the report also put the hospital in the 95th percentile for preventing deaths from a heart attack, called acute myocardial infarction. "So not only are we really, really low for re-admissions, but our (cardiac) care is in the top 5 percent in the nation," Kelly said. In an earlier report, CMS noted that following the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, hospital re-admission rates dropped by an average of 8 percent nationally from 2010 to 2015. The number of avoidable 30-day re-admissions of Medicare patients dropped in 49 states and the District of Columbia, according to CMS. In 43 states, the re-admission rates fell by more than 5 percent, and in 11 states, by more than 10 percent. Kelly said there's been a "tremendous improvement" in areas such as re-admissions since the advent of ACA. "We've just improved better and quicker than the rest of the country," he said. Dr. Jamie Grebosky, chief quality and patient safety officer for Asante, the hospital's parent company, said the health organization has had a strong heart program for decades, thanks to the contributions of many. "It takes a village ... there are so many people who make this happen — and it just doesn't happen by accident." RRMC ranked 16th for low cardiac re-admissions in figures released a year ago for the period 2011-2014. There's a financial motivation for hospitals to meet re-admission standards: Medicare reimbursement rates can be cut by up to 3 percent for hospitals with higher than expected 30-day re-admission rates. The measurements cover specific conditions, including heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, total knee or hip replacement and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. CMS estimated that Medicare beneficiaries avoided 100,000 re-admissions in 2015 alone compared with what they would have been if re-admission rates had remained at 2010 levels. From 2010 to 2015, Medicare beneficiaries avoided about 565,000 re-admissions, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. RRMC's success adds to a long list of awards and recognition the hospital has received, including being recognized as a national 100 Top Hospital for four consecutive years in an independent review by Truven Health Analytics. Asante is on the list of 15 Top Health Systems for the nation. — Bob Hunter is associate editor for the Mail Tribune. Reach him at [email protected].