Cape Cod Hospital Stent Procedure Readmission Rate Lowest in the State

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.

HYANNIS – Cape Cod Hospital has the lowest readmission rate in the state for Medicare patients who receive stent procedures.

A recent study conducted by Dexur from 2013 to 2016 shows that the 30-day unplanned readmission rate for the hospital was 11.2 percent, which was almost 1.75 percent less than the next lowest rate at North Shore Medical Center Salem Hospital.

Only six hospitals in Massachusetts were below both the state and national rates which are both around 16.5 percent.

“We are extremely proud of our Interventional Cardiology program, and its excellent track record of caring for patients here on Cape Cod,” said Cape Cod Healthcare President and CEO Michael Lauf. “The Dexur study demonstrates the effectiveness of our interventional cardiology program at Cape Cod Hospital and should reassure residents and visitors, alike, that should they need elective or emergency  cardiac treatment, they will receive the best care in the state right here in the community.”

The Dexur analysis included hospitals in the state with at least 50 Medicare inpatient discharges and 11 readmissions at the “diagnosis related group (DRG)” level between January 2013 and December 2016.

The specific DRG studied was percutaneous cardiovascular procedures with drug-eluting stents with major complications, which is one of the four stent procedure DRGs recognized by CMS.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), formerly known as angioplasty with stent, is a non-surgical procedure that uses a thin, flexible tube called a catheter through which a stent is inserted to open up blood vessels in the heart that have been narrowed by plaque buildup.

The analysis also revealed that Cape Cod Hospital’s length of stay for PCI procedures was also low, ranking fifth in the state.

“The caliber of our Cardiac Services program at Cape Cod Hospital has reached a level where we have an exceptional team of highly skilled and trained physicians, nurses, technologists and support staff that is capable of performing the most complex and innovative cardiac procedures in order to help save and improve lives here on Cape Cod,” said Richard Zelman, MD, FACC, chief of inpatient cardiology at Cape Cod Healthcare, the parent company of Cape Cod Hospital. “Our excellent outcomes should give comfort to every resident and visitor on Cape Cod that they do not have to travel far to receive the best cardiac care.”