For the sixth consecutive year, Deborah Heart and Lung Center’s cardiothoracic surgery program has earned multiple three-star ratings from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).
Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills is an 89-bed teaching hospital that specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, research, and treatment of heart, lung, and vascular diseases. These multiple three-star ratings – the highest available – place Deborah as one of the elite programs for open heart surgeries performed in the United States and Canada.
The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in healthcare, rating the benchmarked outcomes of specific procedures performed in cardiothoracic surgery programs. In the latest STS report, capturing data from July 2018-June 2021, Deborah was awarded three-stars for the following:
- Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG). Historically, approximately 6% of participants earn this rating.
- Aortic Valve Replacement combined with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (AVR + CABG). Historically, approximately 5% of participants earn this star rating.
- Mitral Valve Replacement and Repair (MVRR). Historically, only 12% of participants earn this star rating.
- MVRR + CABG. Historically, approximately 7% of participants earn this star rating.
This is the sixth consecutive year that Deborah Heart and Lung Center has been awarded multiple three-star ratings from the STS, a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 7,600 surgeons, researchers, and allied healthcare professionals worldwide.
“We are exceptionally thrilled to have received these multiple star ratings from STS,” said cardiothoracic surgeon Paul Burns, MD, Deborah’s chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery. “The STS database is the most highly regarded evaluation tool for cardiac surgery programs. A three-star rating from this organization represents the recognition of our commitment to the highest level of quality healthcare delivery. These star ratings provide meaningful information to patients and families, and can reassure them that they are receiving heart surgery at one of the very best hospitals in the country.”
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 Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), the Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), and the mechanical circulatory support database (Intermacs).
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 groups that perform heart surgery in the US. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report to each other and the public their heart surgery scores and star ratings.
For more information: https://publicreporting.sts.org/participant/30043
