Vanderbilt reports record-breaking cardiac surgery volumes
Posted 7/13/2009
Between July 1, 2008, and June 30, Vanderbilt performed 2,139 cardiac surgery procedures, which include coronary artery bypass grafts, heart valve replacement and repair, ventricular assist devices and heart transplants for both adult and pediatric patients.
The surgical volume reflects procedures performed by Vanderbilt’s cardiac surgeons at Vanderbilt University Hospital (1,286), the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt (562), Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center (161), and Maury Regional Hospital (131), with which VHVI has a professional service agreement. By comparison, Vanderbilt performed approximately 900 surgeries in fiscal year 2004-2005.
John G. Byrne, M.D., chair of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, said that the increase in volume makes Vanderbilt not only the largest cardiac surgery program in Nashville and the largest in Tennessee, but among the largest programs nationwide.
According to 2008 University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) data, Vanderbilt was among the top eight hospitals for cardiac surgery volume. UHC is an alliance of 103 academic medical centers and 217 of their affiliated hospitals representing approximately 90 percent of the nation's non-profit academic medical centers.
“This growth is due to the alignment of interests to deliver better overall value to patients and referring physicians,” Byrne said. “This alignment includes close collaboration among cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, two groups of physicians who historically have competed for patients.”
Byrne said many medical centers “are organized as a loose affiliation of aligned interests, resulting in internal competition instead of collaboration, but VHVI is a tight team.”
“At Vanderbilt, a team approach is taken to decide the best course of treatment – medicine or surgery. This type of collaboration between two groups of doctors who are typically rivals at other heart centers is what makes Vanderbilt Heart unique. We are organized as a team, and we reward team performance and it’s that culture, and the value system it represents, which is unique,” he said.
Contact: Kathy Whitney, (615) 322-4747
Kathy.f.whitney@vanderbilt.edu
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