UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute Receives Highest Designation for Quality Outcomes for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Dr. Jae Cho (center, with headlamp) performs an open-heart bypass graft on a patient with occluded arteries.

CLEVELAND – The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) has awarded University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute with its highest designation for quality outcomes for isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), also known as heart bypass surgery. With this recognition, STS affirms UH as an excellent resource for high-quality cardiovascular care.

The cardiac surgery program at UH Cleveland Medical Center, as well as UH Ahuja Medical Center (Beachwood), UH Elyria Medical Center, UH Lake West Medical Center (Willoughby), and UH Parma Medical Center earned the 3-star rating, the highest performance tier for quality outcomes. Only 20 percent of hospitals nationally have a 3-star rating from STS.

“Our teams have worked hard to ensure that patients across Northeast Ohio have quality care close to home,” said Dr. Mehdi Shishehbor, President of UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, and Angela and James Hambrick Chair in Innovation at UH. “Receiving this recognition for our flagship hospital as well as collective system cardiac surgery programs in our community hospitals lets patients know their experience will be the same wherever they receive care. Our surgeons do the traveling so that patients can stay closer to home.”

The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.

To receive the 3-star status, the team focused on multidisciplinary team discussions to review complex cases and plan therapeutic interventions tailored to the individual patient. The program also saw an increase in the overall number of CABG surgeries, which is a tribute to the high-quality outcomes.

“Better outcomes and a better experience for patients are always our main goals,” said Dr. Yasir Abu-Omar, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, and Russ and Connie Lincoln Chair in Cardiovascular Innovation. “This designation by one of the most prestigious surgical societies in the world confirms that UH is a top destination for cardiovascular care for patients in Ohio and beyond.”

CABG is a surgical procedure that improves blood flow to the heart by diverting blood around blocked or narrowed coronary arteries. In its traditional form, it involves a sternotomy – cutting the breastbone to access the heart – and placing the patient on a heart-lung machine. It can relieve chest pain and reduce the risk of heart attack. At UH, there is a high expertise in minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) and robotic MIDCAB. In selected patients, MIDCAB accomplishes the same goal without the sternotomy and heart-lung machine. Robotic MIDCAB is an even less invasive option, which UH providers became the first in Ohio to perform in December of 2023. This procedure, using the Da Vinci robot, requires only a few small incisions that doctors use to insert robotic arms and a camera that provides impressive visualization.

The 3-star designation is for cases performed in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is a not-for-profit organization representing more than 7,700 cardiothoracic surgeons, researchers, and allied healthcare professionals worldwide who are dedicated to ensuring positive outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lung, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest. The Society’s mission is to enhance the ability of cardiothoracic surgeons to provide the highest quality patient care through education, research, and advocacy.