December 17, 2008 - Mercy Health Partners is the only hospital in Michigan, and one of 13 nationwide, selected as Leapfrog’s top hospitals for quality by combining quality and resource utilization in the areas of coronary artery bypass, coronary interventions and treatment of acute myocardial infarction.
The Leapfrog Group evaluated more than 1,220 hospitals in order to identify those hospitals that provide excellent quality and at the same time demonstrating an appropriate use of resources for specific performances and efficiencies.
“It is all about providing the right care at the right moment at the right cost,” said Roger Spoelman, president and CEO of Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon. “This is exactly the kind of platform of quality and cost management our business community has challenged us on and it is the kind of outcome we promised with our merger.”

From the patient perspective, the award recognition is tied to a heart hospital that selects the most appropriate heart care for the patient, fast and in the most cost-effective manner, said Dr. Thomas Hill, medical director for the Heart Failure Clinic at Mercy Health Partners in Muskegon.

“Through our continual focus on quality and outcomes we have been able to consistently rank among the top performers nationally in the treatment of heart patients,” said Dr. Hill. “In 2008, 90 percent of our patients needing emergency angioplasty received that treatment in less than 90 minutes.”

One of the most effective treatments for a heart attack is angioplasty, a procedure during which a small balloon is inflated to open blocked arteries. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have developed national guidelines calling for a door-to-balloon time of less than 90 minutes for hospitals that offer direct angioplasty.

Also critically important to heart patients is the amount of time it takes to get to treatment. Because of its central location in the lakeshore region, Mercy Health Partners provides potential heart patients with the fastest opportunity to get treatment.

“The sooner an individual who has had a heart attack is treated, the better their chance of survival and the less permanent damage is done to their heart,” Dr. Hill said.

Mercy Health Partners was also recently named one of the nations Top 100 Hospital for overall clinical care, and one of the Top 100 Cardiovascular Hospitals by Thomson Reuters.

About Mercy Health Partners

Mercy Health Partners is a teaching hospital and the second largest health system in West Michigan with more than 4,300 associates, and some 21,000 inpatient discharges and 137,000 emergency/urgent care visits annually. The system has four hospitals and 375 physicians and offers a number of exclusive specialty physician care services for the region.