LITTLE ROCK - Cardiovascular surgeons with the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute at the Infirmary in Little Rock earned a distinguished three-star rating for patient care and outcomes in mitral valve replacement and repair (MVRR) surgery with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS). The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care and the three-star rating denotes the highest category of quality the system bestows.

Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute provide access to the latest technology, advanced techniques and treatments to ensure patients benefit from the highest standard of heart care. In August, CHI St. Vincent Infirmary was also recognized as the best hospital in Arkansas for cardiology and heart surgery in the 2020-21 Best Hospital Rankings from U.S. News & World Report.

The latest analysis of data for MVRR+CABG surgery covers a three-year period from July 2017 to June 2020 and includes 3,800 participants. STS benchmarks outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by database participants. The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons 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.

In February, CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute was one of only two institutions recognized as a center of excellence for both Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) and Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (MitraClip™) (TEER) heart procedures across the 142 hospital and 21 state CommonSpirit Health system. In 2019, the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute also announced a seven-year collaboration with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Penn Medicine to accelerate high-priority clinical research efforts related to heart surgery and implement novel approaches into surgical practice. To learn more about the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute or schedule an appointment, visit: chistvincent.com/heartC