Open heart surgeons earn prestigious 3-Star Rating
King’s Daughters cardiothoracic surgery group, Cardiothoracic Surgeons of Kentucky, has earned a distinguished 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 King’s Daughters among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada. (Pictured from left: Robert Fried, M.D.; Juan Bastidas, M.D.; and Eric Bronstein, M.D.)
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 an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.
“Congratulations to the open-heart surgery team at King’s Daughters for once again achieving the highest quality rating possible from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons,” said health system CEO Kristie Whitlatch. “We are incredibly proud of our surgeons – Eric Bronstein, M.D., Robert Fried, M.D., and Juan Bastidas, M.D. – for delivering outstanding care and quality quarter after quarter, year after year.”
Historically, approximately 10 to 15 percent of participants receive the three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a 1-year period, from July 2015 to June 2016.
“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shahian, MD, Chair of the STS Council on Quality, Research, and Patient Safety. “Participation in the Database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in health care delivery and helps provide patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about health care.”
The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The Database includes three components: the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), the Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), and the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD). The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.3 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,700 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90 percent 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.
About STS
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 7,400 surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest. The Society’s mission is to enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality patient care through education, research, and advocacy.
