Southcoast^® Hospitals Group today was named one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for heart care by Healthgrades, the leading provider of information to help consumers make an informed decision about a physician or hospital. Healthgrades recognized Southcoast with its Specialty Excellence Awards for Overall Cardiac Care and for Cardiac Surgery.

“Patients in the South Coast region who receive their cardiac care at a Southcoast hospital can rest assured they are receiving their care at one of the top heart hospitals in the U.S.,” said Keith A. Hovan, President & CEO of Southcoast Health System and Southcoast Hospitals Group. “At the forefront of this achievement is our dedication to improving quality care and patient safety, which is represented by these awards of excellence.”

The release of the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation analyzes tens of millions of patients' outcomes — specifically, mortality and complication rates — at the nation's 4,500 hospitals.

“The Healthgrades ratings and rankings are an exceptional accomplishment for our cardiac program and a testament to our physicians, surgeons, nurses and health care providers who are saving lives every day,” said Laurie Mulgrew, Vice President of Clinical Services for Cardiovascular Care & Imaging. “Patients who receive their cardiac care at a Southcoast hospital can rest assured they are receiving their care at one of the top heart hospitals in the U.S.”

Healthgrades’ 2014 clinical achievements for Southcoast Hospitals are:

America’s 100 Best Hospitals

• One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care™ for three years in a row.
• One of Healthgrades America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™ for three years in a row.

Cardiac Excellence Awards & Five-star Ratings

• Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Care Excellence Award™ for eight years in a row.
• Recipient of the Healthgrades Cardiac Surgery Excellence Award™ for three years in a row.
• Ranked among the top 5 percent in the U.S. for cardiac surgery for three years in a row.
• Ranked among the top 10 percent in the U.S. for overall cardiac services for eight years in a row.
• Five-star rated for coronary bypass surgery for three years in a row.
• Five-star rated for valve surgery for three years in a row.
• Five-star rated for coronary interventional procedures for nine years in a row.
• Five-star rated for treatment of heart attacks (2014)

For its analysis, Healthgrades evaluated approximately 40 million Medicare-patient records for nearly 4,500 short-term acute care hospitals nationwide, assessing hospital performance relative to each of 31 common conditions and procedures. Healthgrades awards hospitals quality achievements for cohort-specific performance, specialty area performance, and overall clinical quality. Individual procedure or condition cohorts are designated as 5 star (statistically better than expected), 3 star (statistically as expected) and 1 star (statistically worse than expected) categories. Detailed performance information, such as cohort-specific outcomes data and quality achievements for individual hospitals may be found at www.healthgrades.com/find-a-hospital.

More information on the American Hospital Quality Outcomes 2014: Healthgrades Report to the Nation, including the complete methodology, can be found at www.healthgrades.com/quality

Heart disease is the No. 1 health problem locally and strikes South Coast residents more frequently than anywhere else in Massachusetts. Southcoast Hospitals Group, which includes Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham, ranks second in the entire state for the greatest number of cardiac medical discharges. Fourteen percent more people have heart attacks in the South Coast — and about one in four residents die from heart disease.

In fiscal year 2013, more than 13 percent of Southcoast's inpatient volume was attributed to heart-related diagnoses and more than 27,500 outpatients received care related to the same.