Two MedStar Health Hospitals Earn Highest Quality Ratings for Lifesaving Heart Procedures

The top-tier recognition underscores cardiac surgery programs’ excellence in patient care and outcomes.

WASHINGTON – Two MedStar Health hospitals have been awarded the highest quality rating — three stars—from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), placing them among the top cardiac surgery programs in the nation.

MedStar Washington Hospital Center received three stars in three ranked categories: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG or heart bypass surgery), Mitral Valve Repair/Replacement (MVRR), a first for the facility, and Multiprocedural Composite Measure, which is a combination of overall cardiac procedures, including valves and heart bypass surgeries.

MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore earned three stars in two categories: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting and Multiprocedural Composite Measure. 

The STS rating system is one of the most sophisticated and highly regarded overall measures of quality in health care, evaluating the benchmarked outcomes of cardiac surgery programs at hospitals across the country. The rating also allows patients and their families to make informed decisions about where to receive their cardiac care.

“We are proud to receive this significant recognition for both institutions, which reflects the unwavering dedication, expertise, and compassion our team brings to our cardiac surgery patients every day,” said Thomas MacGillivray, MD, physician executive director of Cardiac Surgery at MedStar Health, and chair of Cardiac Surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “The STS Adult Cardiac Surgery database is the gold standard for quality and safety and is instrumental in identifying best practices and outcomes in cardiac surgery. This achievement underscores our ongoing commitment to excellence and the trust our community places in us.”

In 2023, Dr. MacGillivray served as the 59th President of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. 

Approximately 10% of hospitals receive the highest three-star rating for any category. The latest analysis of data covers the calendar years 2022 through 2024.

The STS National Database contains more than 10 million surgical records from 6,000 participating physicians, including surgeons and anesthesiologists, which encompass greater than 95% of adult cardiac surgeries performed in the U.S.