LAKELAND, Fla. – Lakeland Regional Health has earned a distinguished three-star rating from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures. The three-star rating, which denotes the highest category of quality, places Lakeland Regional Health among the elite for heart bypass surgery in the United States and Canada.
Additionally, it achieved a three-star rating for multi-procedural composite measures, which involves a combination of all overall cardiac procedures, including valves and coronary bypass surgeries.
“We are so proud of our Team Members, providers, and support staff who were involved in caring for our patients and were critical in achieving this result,” said Dr. Timothy Regan, President, Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center and Chief Medical Officer, Lakeland Regional Health. “Our health system is dedicated to bringing world-class, lifesaving care to patients right here in our community.”
The STS star rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in healthcare, rating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiothoracic surgery programs across the United States and Canada. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.
“Receiving the elite STS three-star rating — one of the most advanced and respected indicators of quality in healthcare — reflects our health system’s commitment to quality improvement and patient safety,” said Andres Medina, MD, Director, Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Center at Lakeland Regional Health. “We ensure thorough multidisciplinary coordination before, during, and after surgery so patients and their families feel supported and cared for during their entire journey with us. We not only provide world-class expertise, but we do so with compassion.”
Approximately 20% of participants receive the three-star rating for isolated CABG surgery. The latest analysis of data for CABG surgery covers a three-year period, from January 2022 to December 2024, and includes 1,030 participants.
“The Society of Thoracic Surgeons congratulates STS National Database participants who have received three-star ratings,” said David M. Shahian, MD, chair of the Task Force on Quality Measurement. “Participation in the Database and public reporting demonstrates a commitment to quality improvement in healthcare delivery and helps provide patients and their families with meaningful information to help them make informed decisions about healthcare.”
The STS National Database was established in 1989 as an initiative for quality improvement and patient safety among cardiothoracic surgeons. The Database includes four components: the Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD), the Congenital Heart Surgery Database (CHSD), the General Thoracic Surgery Database (GTSD), and the mechanical circulatory support database (Intermacs). The STS ACSD houses approximately 6.9 million surgical records and gathers information from more than 3,800 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists from more than 90% of groups that perform heart surgery in the U.S. STS public reporting online enables STS ACSD participants to voluntarily report to each other and the public their heart surgery scores and star ratings.