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Sisters Hospital Ranked #1 in New York State for Bariatric Surgery

July 28, 2009

Sisters of Charity Hospital has received the 2009/2010 Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award™ from HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent healthcare ratings organization, as part of a study the company released today.

According to the report, Sisters Hospital’s bariatric surgery program is ranked #1 in New York State and among the top five percent of all hospitals in the nation. The hospital also received its fourth-consecutive 5-Star rating for bariatric surgery from HealthGrades.

According to the study, the HealthGrades Fourth Annual Bariatric Surgery Trends in American Hospitals Study, wide gaps in mortality rates, complication rates and lengths of stay for bariatric surgery exist among the nation’s hospitals. The study analyzes patient outcomes for the most common weight loss procedures including gastric bypass, less invasive laparoscopic procedures including gastric banding, malabsorbtive procedures and combined malabsorbtive/restrictive procedures.

Sisters Hospital is one of 88 hospitals in the U.S. identified by HealthGrades as a “top” performer (five-star rated), with mortality rates, complication rates and patient lengths of stay that are dramatically lower than poorly rated hospitals.

Other findings identified in the study include:

• Bariatric surgery patients treated at five-star rated hospitals have, on average, a 67 percent lower chance of experiencing serious complications compared to patients who receive treatment at one-star rated hospitals.
• Patients had a three times higher risk of dying from bariatric surgery if they had it performed at a one-star hospital versus a five-star hospital.
• Patients having surgery at five-star rated hospitals spent, on average, more than half a day less in the hospital (2.15 days) compared to patients having surgery in one-star hospitals (2.72 days).
• The number of inpatient procedures during the study years 2005 through 2007 showed no increase, but an increasing percentage of surgeries are being performed on an outpatient basis.
• Laparospcopic bariatric surgery procedures account for 79% of all procedures, up from 54% in last year’s study.
• Of the 19 states studied, over 61% of all procedures were performed in five states: New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, California and Florida.
• California was, on average, the most expensive state for bariatric surgery (average charge per procedure=$52,224) while Maryland was the least expensive (average charge per procedure=$14,577).
• Patients in Vermont, on average, spent the most time in the hospital (3.26 days), while patients in Nevada, on average, spent the least amount of time in the hospital (1.56 days).

For this study, HealthGrades analyzed 153,355 bariatric procedures performed in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. The states included in the study are: Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The full study and individual hospital ratings for bariatric surgery and other procedures can be found at www.healthgrades.com.