Methodist Receives Three-Star Rating From The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Methodist Hospital in Omaha recently received a three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Methodist Hospital among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.

“We are proud that this rating places us among an elite group of cardiac surgery programs across the nation,” said John Batter, MD, medical director of Methodist’s cardiothoracic surgery program. “And our commitment to providing outstanding care will continue as we strive to maintain excellent outcomes for our patients.”

Methodist’s cardiothoracic surgery team uses the most innovative techniques to perform complex operations designed to improve patients’ quality of life. The team diagnoses and treats a variety of conditions, including valvular disease, coronary artery disease, arrhythmia, aortic aneurysm, lung cancer, thymus disease and other masses and cancers of the chest.

In addition to performing complex procedures, the team is trained on a variety of minimally invasive approaches. Methodist’s cardiothoracic surgeons specialize in aortic reconstruction, valve preservation, beating-heart coronary surgery, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) as well as percutaneous (incisionless) options like TAVR, Mitraclip and AngioVac.

The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD) participants.

Approximately 20% of STS National Database participants receive the three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a three-year period, from July 2018 to June 2021.

The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The database includes four components: the ACSD, the Congenital Heart Surgery Database, the General Thoracic Surgery Database and the mechanical circulatory support database. The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.9 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,800 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90% of heart surgery groups in the U.S. Online reporting enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report their heart surgery scores and star ratings to each other and the public.