Recent News

Consumer Reports Awards Mid-Atlantic Surgical Associates "Three Stars" Twice in a Row

Consumers Union—the organization that publishes Consumer Reports— releases a report card each year identifying the top-performing cardiac surgery centers in the United States. Mid-Atlantic Surgical Associates has received Consumer Reports highest rating: "Three Stars", twice in a row.

The list, which is posted online and was published in the September 2011 and October 2010 issues of Consumer Reports, is based on information gathered through the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Database, which collects clinical outcomes data from patients' charts. Nearly 90% of the country's 1,100 cardiac surgery programs voluntarily participate in the registry.

The report card assigns surgery centers a one-, two- or three-star rating after tabulating a physician group-level performance score based on 11 National Quality Forum-endorsed clinical measures, including:

* Postoperative renal failure;
* Surgical re-exploration;
* Beta-blockade at discharge; and
* Risk-adjusted operative mortality after coronary artery bypass graft surgery, among other measures.

In addition to a facility's overall performance score, the report card also assigns star ratings and actual performance scores on a zero to 100 scale for four subcategories:

* 30-day survival;
* Complications;
* Proper medication administration; and
* Surgical technique.

Overall, 221 surgical groups—representing about 20% of the nation's cardiac surgery centers—have agreed to publicly release their outcomes data through the Consumers Union report.


"Cardiac Classroom"

In addition to performing cardiac surgery, Dr. John Brown is also the founder and director of the innovative "Cardiac Classroom", an award-winning distance learning program for high school students, launched with the Liberty Science Center.

Click here to view "Cardiac Classroom"