KU News Release

U.S. News & World Report Ranks Heart Program at The University of Kansas Hospital As 30th in the Nation

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The University of Kansas Hospital has been ranked 30th in the nation for heart and heart surgery in the new U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Hospitals” issue.  It is the highest ranked heart program in the area and the highest ranking of any area hospital in any specialty areas ranked by the magazine.

“Our heart team of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals throughout the hospital earned this designation purely on the basis of objective data, especially our remarkably low mortality rate,” said Bob Page, president and chief executive officer of The University of Kansas Hospital.

Page said the risk adjusted mortality rate in the rankings is 0.63 for Medicare patients for 2003 through 2005. (A rate of 1.00 represents an expected mortality rate given the severity of the patients; lower than 1.00 represents the mortality rate was lower than expected.)  The University of Kansas Hospital mortality rate ranked 4th best of all the hospitals on the top 50 Hospital list for Heart and Heart Surgery.

Page said another remarkable aspect of the selection is the revitalized heart and heart surgery program at the hospital is only six years old.  He said this relative youth of the program was likely a factor in the hospital receiving no points from the magazine’s national reputation survey, a major part of the ranking criteria.  Page said the national reputation is just beginning because of the strong results from all programs at the hospital

“We’ve proven in just a short amount of time we could build a program based on quality outcomes for patients, develop record high patient satisfaction, conduct significant cardiac research and help teach the next generation of physicians.  The key is to commit first to the quality of the program, by investing in people, facilities and the best patient experience,” said Page.
Page noted the quality results in the heart program and other programs for the years since 2005 have continued to show improvement.   Plus, the results do not reflect the benefits of the Center for Advanced Heart Care, which opened in 2006.

“The Center for Advanced Heart Care makes providing quality care even more efficient because the health care team helped design the building in order to deliver the best care to heart patients,” added Page.           

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.