Two out of thirteen hospitals nationwide for high complication rates located in Michigan

The Economic Alliance for Michigan (EAM) released a new report suggesting the need for hospitals in Michigan to reduce the number of complications patients encounter after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), commonly refereed as heart bypass surgery. The study determined that if hospitals in Michigan, performing CABG, reduced morbidity (complications) of just one additional patient, potentially over $4.4 million can be saved in health care costs.

The research was conducted by using data gathered by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). Hospitals across the country voluntarily report outcomes of their cardiac departments to STS. With the data collected, STS creates star-ratings for various cardiac procedures. Hospitals were assigned three-stars (the best), two-stars or one-star (the worse). Two out of thirteen hospitals nationwide receiving a one-star rating are located in Michigan.

Key highlights from the report:

• 30 out of the 33 hospitals in Michigan with open heart surgery were included in the STS July 2015 to June 2016 reporting cycle.
  • The three hospitals who either did not provide enough data or did not report were Covenant Healthcare in Saginaw, DMC Sinai-Grace in Detroit and Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.
• Two hospitals received a three-star rating:  Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo and Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township.
• Two hospitals received a one-star rating:  Beaumont Health Dearborn and Beaumont Health Royal Oak.
• Overall year-to-year, the average of all Michigan hospitals performing CABG did not show any improvement in reducing the rate of morbidity.
• DMC Harper University Hospital in Detroit had an impressive improvement year-to-year with a 7.4 percent decrease in morbidity rate.

“With 26 out of 33 hospitals with a two-star rating, this report demonstrates the need for decreasing complications after heart bypass surgery,” said Bret Jackson, president, EAM. “Now we can only hope that hospitals, health professionals and advocates work together to produce and implement plans for improvement that will save millions in health care costs.”

View the full report here: Open Heart Surgery & Rate of Morbidity