Loyola's Mortality Rates from Heart Attack and Heart Failure Among Nation's Lowest

Loyola University Hospital is among the top 5 percent of U.S. hospitals in limiting deaths from heart attacks and heart failure, according to the federal government's latest Hospital Compare reports.

Nationwide, 16.6 percent of Medicare heart attack patients died within 30 days of admission to the hospital. At Loyola, the rate was only 13 percent. Among Loyola's heart failure patients, 8 percent died within 30 days, compared to the national average of 11.1 percent.

Loyola's 30-day death rate from pneumonia was 10.3 percent, compared to the national average of 11.5 percent.

Hospital Compare mortality data include Medicare patients older than 65 who were discharged between July, 2005 and June, 2008. Death rates were risk-adjusted, meaning the calculations take into account how sick patients were when they were admitted.

Hospital Compare also includes results from 3,993 Loyola patient surveys. Ninety-four percent said they would definitely or probably recommend Loyola.

Ninety-four percent of Loyola patients said doctors usually or always treated them with courtesy and respect, listened carefully and explained things in a way they could understand. Ninety-three percent of Loyola patients said the same things about nurses.

Loyola is a nationally recognized center of excellence for heart and vascular care. It is the only Illinois hospital to be named to the Thomson Reuters 2008 list of the nation's top 30 teaching hospitals with cardiovascular residency programs. And U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Loyola's heart program as one of the best in the country.