Nation's top hospital organ transplant centers identified by HealthGrades

HealthGrades, the nation's leading independent ratings organization, today made available to organ transplant patients a list of those hospitals with the best track record for survival and chances of receiving a donor organ. HealthGrades annual evaluation of the nation's top-performing hospitals in organ transplantation includes clinical quality data, based on patient outcomes, for each of the 210 adult acute care hospitals that perform transplants. This information is available, free to the public, at HealthGrades.com and is intended to help patients in need of kidney, lung, heart or liver transplants. "More than 108,000 patients are on a waiting list for an organ transplant in the U.S and it is imperative that patients have a resource to compare patient outcomes and other criteria at programs across the country," said HealthGrades' Rick May, MD. "HealthGrades' hospital ratings are based on objective patient outcomes, empowering patients to choose a program that gives them the best chance at survival."

The following data is displayed on HealthGrades.com and was calculated by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) for all adult acute care hospitals in the U.S. with transplant programs:

• One and three-year risk-adjusted patient survival;
• One and three-year risk-adjusted graft survival;
• The rate at which waitlisted patients receive transplants; and
• Waitlist mortality.

Hospitals with transplant programs received HealthGrades Transplant Excellence Awards if they had a statistically significantly higher three-year survival rate. Award recipients were also required to have waitlist mortality that was either not significantly different than expected or was significantly lower than expected based on SRTR calculations. Of the 210 hospitals evaluated, 20 hospitals received this award.

The recipients are as follows*:

HealthGrades Kidney Transplant Excellence Award recognized 11 recipients out of 199 hospitals evaluated:

• Sutter General Hospital
• UC Davis Medical Center
• Yale - New Haven Hospital
• Tampa General Hospital
• MCG Health Medical Center
• Clarian Methodist Hospital
• Ochsner Clinic Foundation
• Boston Medical Center Corporation
• New York - Presbyterian/Weill Cornell
• Allegheny General Hospital
• University of Washington Medical Center

HealthGrades Lung Transplant Excellence Award recognized 3 recipients out of 53 hospitals evaluated:

• Shands Hospital at the University of Florida
• Tampa General Hospital
• University of Minnesota Medical Center – Riverside

HealthGrades Heart Transplant Excellence Award recognized 2 recipients out of 98 hospitals evaluated:

• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center
• Temple University Hospital

HealthGrades Liver Transplant Excellence Award recognized 4 recipients out of 95 hospitals evaluated:

• California Pacific Medical Center - Pacific
• UCSF Medical Center
• Cleveland Clinic
• Saint Lukes Episcopal Hospital

Source: HealthGrades