Samin K. Sharma, MD, and Annapoorna S. Kini, MD
The New York State Department of Health has again awarded the highest “two-star” safety rating to the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at The Mount Sinai Hospital and to two of its physicians for percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), marking the 20th consecutive year that the laboratory or its physicians have been recognized for safety rates significantly exceeding the statewide average.
PCI, also known as angioplasty, takes place in a cardiac catheterization laboratory and is a minimally invasive procedure for treating patients with blocked heart arteries. During the procedure, physicians insert and thread a thin catheter through the body to the blocked vessel to restore normal blood flow, often with the help of a stent. Patients can range from non-emergency cases (those experiencing early heart disease symptoms) to emergency cases (those in the midst of a heart attack).
The new data report on the outcomes of patient discharges at all 62 statewide cardiac catheterization labs from December 1, 2012, to November 30, 2015. The “Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) in New York State 2013-2015” report tracked PCI data in overall, nonemergency, and emergency cases. Mount Sinai received the two-star rating for both overall and non-emergency cases.
Specifically, the report provides data on risk factors associated with in-hospital/30- day mortality following PCI, and lists hospital and physician-specific mortality rates. It also includes information on hospital readmissions within 30 days of PCI. For the 2015 calendar year, the Mount Sinai Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory also received a two-star safety rating for significantly lower 30-day readmission after a PCI. According to a statement that accompanied the report, Department of Health officials feel that in-hospital/30-day mortality and 30-day readmissions are important quality indicators that yield useful information to patients and providers.
“At Mount Sinai Heart’s Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, our patients’ safety is our No. 1 concern,” says leading interventional cardiologist Samin K. Sharma, MD, Director of Clinical and Interventional Cardiology at The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Anandi Lal Sharma Professor of Medicine in Cardiology. “We have a lengthy track record—20 consecutive years—of offering the highest level of patient safety in New York State, and this record highlights the very best of cardiac care excellence at Mount Sinai.”
Dr. Sharma and Annapoorna S. Kini, MD, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory and the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Professor of Medicine, were two of only three interventional cardiologists in New York State to hold the two-star safety rating.
During this three-year period, the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory achieved a significantly higher safety level than the statewide average. The analyses use a risk-adjustment process to account for pre-existing differences in patients’ health statuses. Mount Sinai’s risk-adjusted mortality rate, or RAMR, for all cases (0.76 percent) was significantly lower than the statewide average (1.15 percent).
Also, the RAMR mortality rate for non-emergency cases (0.45 percent) was significantly lower than the statewide average (0.74 percent). Additionally, Mount Sinai was the only one of 10 high-volume New York State hospitals to have an overall RAMR significantly lower than the statewide rate for nonemergency cases.
“This report measures the high-quality patient care and successful results our team of skilled interventional cardiologists and staff have been able to offer our patients every day,” says Dr. Kini.