Cardiac Procedures Report 2023-2024
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) released the Cardiac Procedures Report, displaying performance ratings and utilization data for several cardiac procedures performed in Pennsylvania acute care hospitals, hospital outpatient departments, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024.
The Hospital Results section of the report provides hospital-specific ratings for mortality, readmissions, and postoperative length of stay, as well as statewide Medicare payments for six cardiac procedures. The Volume Results section displays the total number of cases for hospitals and ASCs for all procedures. The various cardiac procedures include cardiac ablation, cardioversion, coronary artery bypass graft, defibrillator implantation, left atrial appendage closure, mitral valve procedure, pacemaker implantation, percutaneous coronary intervention, surgical aortic valve replacement, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and tricuspid valve procedure.
Barry D. Buckingham, PHC4’s Executive Director, has made it his aim to bring more awareness to the value of reporting and data at PHC4. Buckingham said, “Our staff works diligently to provide as much value and fact-based data as possible in our public reporting. Bringing ASCs and outpatient data, while adding several cardiac procedures to this report is one of many ways we are promoting value to all Pennsylvanians.” Buckingham went on to say that one can gain insight into individual procedures and facilities, examine statewide trends and statistics, and interact with new online features.
PHC4 produced an interactive display, visualizing the data and supporting stakeholders by enabling ease of access to the total number of cases performed in inpatient and outpatient settings. This new online resource allows users to select a type of cardiac procedure from a drop-down menu and use a map to select facilities reported. Users will be able to quickly access the procedure types and/or facilities of interest. A drop-down menu by facility name is also available, which enables users to easily locate facilities performing specific procedures and the volume of the selected procedures.
PHC4 is an independent council formed under Pennsylvania statute (Act 89 of 1986, as amended by Act 15 of 2020) in order to address rapidly growing health care costs. PHC4 continues to produce comparative information about the most efficient and effective health care to individual consumers and group purchasers of health services. In addition, PHC4 produces information used to identify opportunities to contain costs and improve the quality of care delivered.