Focus on the continuum of care is in line with the move to value-based payment, said Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of the Center for Performance Improvement at IBM Watson Health.
"Value is starting to increase over time," Chenoweth said. "When hospitals are focused on the continuum of care and they don't let it go, they maintain their focus on that quality of care and the industry changes as a whole."
The 19th annual study reviewed 1,016 hospitals and recognized 50 that provide exemplary care in one of the industry's largest specialties. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the U.S., accounting for 1 in 4 deaths every year. And each year about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 50 hospitals on Watson Health's list scored higher than their peers on clinical outcomes for heart attack and heart failure treatments, as well as coronary bypass and angioplasty surgeries. The hospitals performed better on mortality and complications, as well as 30-day mortality and readmissions. On average, their procedures cost less and patients had shorter hospitals stays.
Similar to previous years, Watson Health divided the top hospitals into three categories—15 teaching hospitals with a cardiovascular residency program, 20 teaching hospitals without such residency programs and 15 community hospitals.
To get its results, Watson Health uses the most recent CMS data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review file, CMS Hospital Compare and Medicare cost reports. Watson Health also added two new measures this year to its analysis: 30-day episode payment for heart attack and heart failure patients. The additional measures reflect the movement toward population health management as hospitals are expected to manage the quality of care of patients after discharge, said Julie Shook, 100 Top program director of value-based care at Watson Health.
Chenoweth said it's increasingly difficult for 50 Top hospitals to beat their peers because cardiovascular care overall is improving. Indeed, the 50 Top hospitals performed less than 1% better than peers on 30-day mortality and readmission rates for heart failure, heart attack and coronary artery bypass surgery patients.
"The fact is quality is improving in cardiovascular care over time," Chenoweth said. "The hospitals are benefiting from newer technology and treatments."
The vast majority of the 50 hospitals being recognized for their cardiac care were veterans on the list, but there were also eight newcomers, including Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C. The hospital has recently focused on ways to prevent costly readmissions and streamline post-discharge care among its heart patients, said Dr. David Zhao, chief of cardiovascular medicine at Wake Forest.
In 2014, the hospital began to incorporate pharmacy technicians into the discharge protocol. The patients receive a 30-day supply of their prescribed medication before they leave the hospital, up from just a seven-day supply. The longer time period ensures patients stick to their medication regimen and have time to sort out a prescription refill, Zhao said.
Additionally, 48 hours after patients are discharged, a nurse calls to check in on their health status and to make sure they are following the care plan. A mandatory follow-up appointment also occurs at the hospital seven days after discharge.
The hospital has seen its readmissions rate fall since the initiative was launched. "We can understand if there are issues medication-wise, or with their living circumstances like transportation—those are things we can catch earlier and intervene so they won't be readmitted," Zhao said.
But ensuring appropriate follow-up with patients after discharge isn't without challenges. Wake Forest cares for a large rural and Medicaid population, so the hospital needs to coordinate care for complex patients, Zhao said.
"Enough manpower has always been a challenge," he said. "Who is going to make phone calls to patients and make sure they can care for themselves?"