Cardiac Hospitalization Readmission Rates Significantly Higher for Women

~Findings in Cardiac Care Report released this week by VHI~

RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Dizziness, nausea and achiness - no, these are not symptoms of theflu but signs of a heart attack in females. While heart attacksaffect both men and women, the symptoms of a heart attack aresurprisingly different between the genders. Virginia HealthInformation (VHI) this week released its Cardiac Care Report whichprovides consumers information comparing heart healthcare inVirginia. This year's report reveals women undergoing open heartsurgery continued a five year trend of higher than expectedreadmission rates.

February is "American Heart Month" - a time to raise awareness ofcardiac health and focus on efforts to encourage Virginians toprevent cardiac disease. VHI's Cardiac Care Report is a valuabletool for patients and caregivers that can be used to make moreinformed health care decisions.

The Cardiac Care Report is a free, online searchable tool thatcan be used to compare five years of mortality and readmission ratesfor 93 Virginia hospitals in the following categories of care:

Medical Cardiology: Non-surgical therapy for heart disease suchas angina, congestive heart failure and acute myocardial infarction(AMI)

Invasive Cardiology: Surgeries include cardiac catheterization,cardiac pacemaker insertion, balloon angioplasty and placement ofcardiac stents and

Open Heart Surgery: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgeryand cardiac valve operations

The report also contains statewide summaries, which providedetail on heart care by age, race, payer and gender.

"Statewide, cardiac care patients with Medicare, Medicaid orcommercial insurance coverage have mortality rates as you wouldexpect," said Michael Lundberg, Executive Director of VHI. "On theother hand, Medicare and Medicaid patients have 30-day readmissionrates higher than expected. The Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS), the federal agency that administers the Medicareprogram, has recognized the importance of reducing high readmissionrates and will provide incentives for hospitals that do so."

In addition to hospital comparisons on total discharges,mortality and readmission rates, the Cardiac Care Report contains asearchable database of physicians and information from the AmericanHeart Association (AHA) on heart attack warning signs andprevention.

Virginia Health Information (VHI) is the nonprofit organizationthat businesses, consumers, the Commonwealth of Virginia and healthinsurance companies come to for health information. For thosewithout Internet access call 1-877-VHI-INFO to receive informationby mail. VHI publishes reports and consumer guides on healthinsurance, hospitals, HMOs, nursing facilities, physicians and othertopics at www.vhi.org.

CONTACT:

Michael T. Lundberg, Executive Director

Virginia Health Information

Phone: 804-644-7026 or 804-690-6098

Toll Free: 1-877-VHI-INFO

Email: Michael@vhi.org

Web address: www.vhi.org

SOURCE Virginia Health Information