The flagship hospitals for West Penn Allegheny Health System were named Monday among the top 100 U.S. hospitals for cardiovascular care, according to business information company Thomson Reuters.
Allegheny General Hospital in the North Side and Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Bloomfield both made the annual ranking.
The achievement came while the health system is making Allegheny General's Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute a system-wide program.
"Our goal is that, with an integrated model, we will be able to provide a very cohesive, comprehensive approach to cardiovascular care servicing all the communities served by the health system," said Dr. Srinivas Murali, director of the institute.
The hospitals were among eight in Pennsylvania to make the list, including Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler.
"It's pretty exciting that there are so many Pennsylvania hospitals," said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president at Thomson Reuters' health care division, based in Ann Arbor, Mich. "The survival rate for patients gets better every single year. The top 100 benchmarks, however, push the bar just a little bit further than everybody else."
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center did not have any hospitals in the ranking this year. However, UPMC Shadyside and UPMC Presbyterian both made the list several times in past years.
The top hospitals change from year to year because the cutoff is a narrow margin, sometimes less than 1/1000 of a point, Chenoweth said.
Award-winning hospitals have lower mortality rates and cost $1,542 less per case, on average. Data is collected from Medicare billing files.
This is the third time in five years that West Penn has made the top 100, said Ann Koliner, director of cardiovascular services.
"I just can't reiterate enough how proud we are," she said. "The whole team is just delighted to receive this designation."
Murali said he believes the hospitals made the list because they followed their mission statement.
"Our mission is excellent patient care, top-notch research and to be good educators for our trainees," he said.
Additional Information:Top 100
Pennsylvania hospitals among Thomson Reuters' top 100:
⢠Allegheny General Hospital, North Side
⢠Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Bloomfield
⢠Butler Memorial Hospital, Butler
⢠Hamot Medical Center, Erie
⢠Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Montour County
⢠Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood, Montgomery County
⢠Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia
⢠PinnacleHealth, Harrisburg
