St. Mary's Medical Center cuts pediatric heart surgeries after CNN report flags program for infant deaths
Hospital has said the news network's calculations were wrong.
St. Mary's Medical Center in Palm Beach, Google photo
St. Mary's Medical Center in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday said it was closing its pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program following a CNN report that pointed to abnormally high mortality rates for the procedure.
CNN in June aired an investigative series about the hospital, focusing on how nine babies died after receiving the surgery in the Florida hospital. A 10th baby was paralyzed.
According to the report, between 2011 and 2013 the hospital's mortality rate for open heart surgeries was 12.5 percent, three times the national average. The publicity led the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to open an investigation into the hospital.
While St. Mary's did not admit any wrongdoing, the hospital in its statement said the attention it got over the report led to its decision to close the program.
"The inaccurate media reports on our program have made it significantly more challenging to build sustainable volume in our program," officials said in a statement. "At this time we feel it is best to focus on other services needed by our community."
According to the hospital, the decision to close the program was the hospitals, and not a result of a state or federal agency recommendation.
Follow Healthcare Finance on Twitter and LinkedIn.
St. Mary's has said CNN's calculation was flawed and that the mortality rate for heart surgeries was actually 5.3 percent from 2011 to June 2014 when adjusting for risk.
"CNN reported an inaccurately calculated mortality rate based on an incorrect assumption of our program's volume. We understand that (CNN) used volume information obtained from our annual Certificate of Need reports filed with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, which included only a subset of the procedures performed by the program and reported to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons," the hospital said in a statement published shortly after the report aired.
Twitter: @HenryPowderly
