News No. 1 Rankings Awarded to Seton Medical Center Austin’s Cardiac Care Services

AUSTIN, Texas - (Oct. 19, 2011) - Seton Medical Center Austin announced today that it is ranked No. 1 in Texas for overall cardiac services and No. 1 in Texas in cardiology services in 2012 by the leading health care ratings company, HealthGrades®.

The hospital is also 5-star rated for treatment of heart attacks and cardiology services in 2012. Top-performing hospitals have dramatically lower mortality rates than other hospitals, according to the report issued by HealthGrades. According to the HealthGrades report, patients treated at 5-star rated hospitals experience a 73% lower risk of mortality and a 63% lower risk of complications.

Seton Medical Center Austin recognitions in 2012 include:

• Only in Texas ranked among HealthGrades' 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care
• No. 1 in Texas in overall cardiac services
• No. 1 in Texas in cardiology services
• Only hospital in region* ranked among the nation's top 10% of hospitals for coronary intervention
• Best in region*:
  • overall cardiac care coronary interventions
  • treatment of heart attacks
• Only hospital in region* 5-star rated for:
  • cardiology services

"Patients today have a wide array options when it comes to choosing a health care provider," said Kerry Hicks, HealthGrades chief executive officer. "We are proud to have led the way for empowering patient choice based on objective clinical outcomes and access to actionable quality measures. We commend Seton Medical Center Austin for its superior quality and support of consumerism and transparency in the Austin area."

The study included nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide on 27 different diagnoses and procedures, and examined outcomes based on mortality and complication rates from government data from 2008 - 2010.

"Seton's cardiology programs are consistently recognized for safety and quality which are a result of ongoing investments to recruit and retain the best heart specialists and to employ the highest standards of care," said Greg Hartman, Seton Medical Center of Austin, president and chief executive officer. "We are committed to bringing Seton's cardiac care close to where patients live, evident by the expansion of the Seton Heart Institute to 15 locations throughout Central Texas in just eight months."

Seton Heart Institute, a practice group of cardiovascular specialists, extends the full continuum of advanced heart care to participating clinics throughout Central Texas, allowing for greater convenience for patients to receive high-quality cardiovascular care.

HealthGrades Hospital Quality Ratings
HealthGrades rates hospitals independently based on data that hospitals submit to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. No hospital can opt in or out of being rated, and no hospital pays to be rated.

HealthGrades' hospital ratings are the leading objective, actionable quality measures based solely on clinical performance made available to the public. A quality comparison of doctors and hospitals in the Austin area can be found online at www.HealthGrades.com. Information on overall hospital quality for 13 major medical specialties as well as the top five most searched medical specialties by patients in the Austin area can be found online: Austin Market Information

*region is Austin-Round Rock, Texas, as defined by the federal government's office of Management and Budget to include Williamson, Travis, Hays, Caldwell and Bastrop Counties