Highest Safety Rating for Adult Cardiac Surgery Awarded to Mount Sinai Surgeon
David H. Adams, MD, Cardiac Surgeon-in-Chief and Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, has received the highest "two-star" safety rating from the New York State Department of Health. The Department also named Dr. Adams as the highest-volume valve surgeon in New York State, and The Mount Sinai Hospital as having the state’s highest-volume valve surgery program. This marks the third consecutive year that Dr. Adams has been awarded the prestigious designation for safety rates significantly exceeding the statewide average.
"Safety is an important indicator for clinical excellence, and we made this a key priority at our Mitral Valve Repair Center at The Mount Sinai Hospital,” said Dr. Adams. “We continually strive for these results because our patients deserve world-class cardiac surgery care.”
The new data released by the Department of Health reports on the outcomes of patient discharges at 40 New York State hospitals from December 1, 2012, to November 30, 2015. During this three-year period, Dr. Adams achieved a significantly higher safety level (.52) than the statewide average (2.25) while performing 1,033 total valve surgery cases. Dr. Adams is one of four surgeons to receive the two-star rating in the state.
The “Adult Cardiac Surgery in New York State 2013-2015” report tracked data for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, valve repair or replacement surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and readmissions after CABG.
"Dr. Adams and our cardiac surgery team continue to drive patient safety to ever greater levels of quality every year,” says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital. "This latest recognition of Dr. Adams is just one of the many reasons we are proud to have him as a true leader of Mount Sinai Heart.”
Dr. Adams will become President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), the world's oldest and most prestigious society dedicated to thoracic disease, this month. He has set national benchmarks, with degenerative mitral valve repair rates exceeding 99 percent. Repair of the native valve is the preferred treatment for patients with mitral valve disease, instead of replacement with a prosthetic valve. This requires special expertise, but the advantages for the patient are significant and include improved life expectancy, avoidance of long-term anticoagulation (use of blood thinners), and better preservation of native heart function. For more information about our Mitral Valve Repair Center at Mount Sinai Heart call 212-659-6820 or visit https://www.mitralvalverepair.org.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.