Excela Health Cardiothoracic Program Ranked Among Nation’s Elite in Heart Surgery

GREENSBURG, PA, October 2021 … Excela Health continues to raise the bar for quality patient care, with the latest recognition coming from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), which ranks the health system’s heart surgery program among the top 2 percent nationwide.

The honor comes in the form of a distinguished three-star rating from STS for patient care and outcomes in three separate categories: aortic valve replacement combined with coronary artery bypass grafting (AVR+CABG), isolated aortic valve replacement (AVR), and isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Historically, less that 10 percent of all programs within the STS database achieve this elite standing.

The three-star rating denotes the highest category of clinical quality within the STS rating system, and is considered 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.

“This designation means we rank among the best in the nation in providing some of the most needed heart surgeries,” said John Sphon, Excela Health Chief Executive Officer. “This latest honor is a reflection of the caliber of physician specialists on staff at Excela Health, and for our patients, it means they get the best in quality care close to home.”

At the heart of Excela’s cardiac program are Excela Health CardioThoracic Surgical Associates, with offices at Medical Commons Three, 44 South Washington Avenue in Greensburg. This latest accolade acknowledges the continuing renaissance of Excela’s heart program since cardiothoracic surgeons Hiroyuki Tsukui, MD, PhD, Michael H. Culig, MD, MMM, and Mitsugu Ogawa, MD, PhD, joined the Excela Health team within the past three years.

“The mission of the Excela Health cardiovascular program is to provide advanced, highly sophisticated care across a wide spectrum of conditions with the highest clinical quality and the best patient experience,” affirmed Dr. Culig.

Excela Health has been a participant in the STS national database since 2010, when the Society first began public reporting of outcomes. Excela’s commitment to share its results in a transparent way is significant because it allows patients the opportunity to validate the clinical expertise of their community healthcare team against concrete measures for excellence. Over the past decade, Excela Health has continued to enhance its program, adding clinical expertise and technology that consistently exceeds benchmarking standards for patient outcomes.

"The Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ report is the ‘gold standard’ for evaluation of cardiac surgery programs. Everyone at Excela Health is delighted with this national recognition of our cardiac surgery program. It is a well-deserved distinction and once again underscores our commitment to providing Westmoreland County with the finest healthcare services," said Carol Fox, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Excela Health.

To learn more about Excela Health’s cardiac services click here.

About STS
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is a not-for-profit organization that represents more than 7,300 surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest. The Society’s mission is to enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality patient care through education, research, and advocacy.

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