(January 25, 2007) – Fairview Lakes Medical Center, knows a thing or two when it comes to treating a heart attack patient.

A new report says the 59-bed hospital’s record in meeting evidence-based benchmarks in heart attack treatment is highest among nearly 270 hospitals, spanning 38 states. That’s according to new results from the CMS/Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID).

Five Fairview hospitals are participating in HQID, which tracks hospital performance in meeting nationally standardized quality measures, then pays annual incentives to the highest scoring facilities. This is the second year of the so-called “pay for performance” project. Clinical areas measured include heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft, hip and knee replacement and pneumonia.

Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina and Fairview Northland Medical Center in Princeton also scored in the top 10-percent of participating hospitals in heart attack treatment. The University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview scored in the top 20- percent in hip and knee replacement and Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville scored in the top 30-percent in the same category. For their performance, Fairview hospitals will receive bonus payments from Medicare totaling more than $200,000.

“We’re proud of what our heart attack numbers show, and credit goes to our dedicated staff of physicians, nurses and other care team members who put our patients first each and every day,” said Dan Anderson, president of Fairview Lakes Medical Center, in Wyoming, Minn. “We believe adhering to the latest, evidence-based treatments will improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.”

Alison Page, chief safety officer at Fairview Health Services, says participating in the Medicare/Premier HQID project is the right thing to do. “We take a risk having these clinical measures posted for all to see,” she said. “But we support transparency, especially in the name of improving care.”

“The main point is that the majority of hospitals in the HQID project, even those on the lower end of the scale, improved their quality of care across the board with respect to reliable use of scientifically based practices,” said Donald M. Berwick, M.D., president and CEO at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.