Virginia Health Information Publishes Hospital Cardiac Report

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States, with nearly 600,000 patients dying of cardiovascular related diseases each year. This American Heart Month, Virginia Health Information (VHI) has published its Cardiac Care report to help consumers compare hospitals and help them talk to their doctors about the best choices for their needs. VHI's report is now available at www.vhi.org/cardiac.

As one of VHI's free online resources, the Cardiac Care report is the only one of its kind in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Not only does this report empower consumers to make better informed healthcare decisions, it can also provide valuable insights to healthcare professionals and hospitals to help them improve the care they provide. This performance information, mortality and readmission ratings, is provided in the following three categories:

• Medical Cardiology: The largest category, representing 64% of cardiac care, includes non-surgical therapy for heart disease such as angina, congestive heart failure and heart attacks.
• Invasive Cardiology: Accounting for 25% of cardiac care such as cardiac catheterization, cardiac pacemaker insertion, balloon angioplasty and placement of cardiac stents.
• Open Heart Surgery: About 8% of cardiac care is for coronary artery bypass graft surgery and cardiac valve operations.

Additionally, the web tool allows visitors to compare mortality and readmission rates based on gender, race, age and payer type (commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, etc.). To complement the report, VHI provides consumers with resources to help fight and care for heart disease including profiles of Virginia physicians who specialize in its treatment. At www.vhi.org/cardiac consumers can learn how to help prevent heart disease, view tips on how to avoid hospital readmissions and compare patient satisfaction ratings for Virginia based hospitals. These overall satisfaction ratings are gathered through consumer surveys and are categorized into three measures: communication, comfort and overall ratings for each facility. 

Over the years, VHI has worked to provide reports on cardiac care to help Virginians take charge of their healthcare with information that meets their unique needs.

Since 1993, VHI has supported and advocated for health care transparency in Virginia. Virginia Health Information (VHI) is the nonprofit organization that businesses, consumers, the Commonwealth of Virginia and health insurance companies come to for health information. VHI publishes reports and consumer guides on health insurance, hospitals, HMOs, nursing facilities, physicians and other topics at www.vhi.org. To find the latest updates on health care data and statistics, find and like VHI on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vahealth. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Virginia Health Information
Shanikka Richardson, Communications
Phone: 804-612-8185 Web Site: www.vhi.org

SOURCE Virginia Health Information

Related Links

http://www.vhi.org