‘An extraordinary achievement’
Portsmouth Regional Hospital earns a distinguished three-star rating
PORTSMOUTH — Portsmouth Regional Hospital (PRH) has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR) and isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Portsmouth Regional Hospital among the elite for both isolated AVR and isolated CABG surgery, putting it in the top 10% of hospitals in the United States and Canada.
These rankings are issued twice per calendar year; this is the second time in 2023 that Portsmouth Regional Hospital has received three stars for isolated CABG.
“Receiving three stars for both aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass graft is an extraordinary achievement, putting us among the best of the best in the U.S. and Canada,” said Dean M. Carucci, chief executive officer of Portsmouth Regional Hospital. “We are coming up on the 25th anniversary of our cardiovascular surgery program, and this rating demonstrates our commitment to providing outstanding cardiothoracic care to patients on the Seacoast of New Hampshire, as well as to our patients from Massachusetts, Maine and elsewhere who come to Portsmouth Regional Hospital based on our team’s reputation for high-quality cardiovascular care delivered with compassion.”
The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in healthcare, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs in 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.
Approximately 20% of participants receive the three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a three-year period, from July 2020 to June 2023, and includes 434 participants.
For isolated AVR surgery, approximately 4% – 8% of participants have historically received the three-star rating. The latest
analysis of data for AVR surgery covers a three-year period, from July 2020 to June 2023, and includes 67 participants.
“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shahian, MD, chair of the Task Force on Quality Measurement. “Participation in the database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in healthcare delivery and provides patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about healthcare.”
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), the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), and the mechanical circulatory support database (Intermacs). The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.9 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,800 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90% of hospitals that perform heart surgery in the United States. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report their heart surgery scores and star ratings to each other and the public.