Recent News
Dr. Magovern and Dr. Brown, Two Morristown Memorial Hospital - Affiliated Cardiac Surgeons, Top New Jersey State Rankings
Dr. Christopher J. Magovern and Dr. John Brown, two cardiac surgeons affiliated with Morristown Medical Center (an Atlantic Health System hospital), topped New Jersey state rankings for two major categories of cardiac procedures.
Dr. Magovern performed 380 coronary bypass surgeries, the most of any physician in New Jersey, based on an analysis of Inpatient Medicare claims over a five year period from 2013 to 2017. Research has shown that physician case volume is positively associated with better quality outcomes.
Dr. Brown performed the most inpatient cardiac valve and cardiothoracic procedures of any physician in New Jersey, based on an analysis of Inpatient Medicare claims over a five year period from 2013 to 2017. Dr. Brown performed 674 such procedures as attending physician and 823 as operating physician, #1 in New Jersey in both categories.
Consumer Reports Awards Mid-Atlantic Surgical Associates "Better Than Expected"
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: "Better Than Expected", June 2018.
The list, which is posted online and was last published in the June 2018 issue 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.
Approximately 60% 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"
