Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara surgeons received the highest rating by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Two Kaiser Permanente Northern California hospitals are among the top cardiothoracic surgery hospitals in the United States after being recognized by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) with the highest rating for isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures.
In the latest STS ratings, Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and Santa Clara received an overall three-star rating for CABG procedures from January 2021 to December 2023. Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team also received an overall three-star rating for CABG procedures. Kaiser Permanente Northern California has three cardiac surgical programs in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Clara.
The STS three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and Santa Clara along with the Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team among the top 23% of participants performing heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.
“This recognition highlights our commitment to cardiac-care excellence, which saves lives and sets a remarkable standard for health care professionals nationwide,” said Maria Ansari, MD, FACC, chief executive officer and executive director of The Permanente Medical Group. “I’ve witnessed the commitment, dedication, and expertise of our cardiac teams, and it gives me great pride to see all of our centers of cardiac excellence achieve this milestone again.”
Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara and San Francisco have performed approximately 2,800 CABG procedures over the past three years. Kaiser Permanente Sacramento’s cardiovascular surgery team has performed approximately 1,100 CABG procedures over the past three years. CABG is a procedure used to treat coronary artery disease and improve blood flow to the heart. The procedure is also known as bypass surgery, coronary artery bypass surgery, and heart bypass surgery.
Cardiac care specialists in Kaiser Permanente Northern California perform a full array of adult cardiac surgical procedures, including coronary artery bypass, valve repair or replacement, aortic dissection and aneurysm repair, repair of adult cardiac anomalies, and surgical treatment of cardiac tumors, leading to excellent patient outcomes. In our communities, Kaiser Permanente members are 33% less likely to experience premature death due to heart disease, according to a 2022 research study.
“Our Kaiser Permanente teams are committed to providing the highest quality of care leading to positive outcomes for our patients as they chart their journey back to good health,” said Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, president of Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California region. “Receiving this three-star rating speaks to the outstanding skills of our cardiac surgical teams and the excellence of our cardiac program throughout Northern California.”
The STS Star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.
