WAUSAU, Wis. –  Aspirus Wausau Hospital (AWH) was named as one of the nation’s top performing hospitals by Fortune and IBM Watson Health for 2022. The Aspirus cardiovascular program is the only program in the country to receive this recognition seven years in a row.

The annual Fortune/IBM 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study spotlights leading short-term, acute care, non-federal US hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. The study is designed to identify impartial, actionable, and attainable benchmarks for hospital and clinical leaders as they work to raise their own organizations’ standards of performance in cardiac care.

“We are very proud to be the only hospital in the country to receive this recognition for the last seven years in a row,” said Aspirus Heart Care Medical Director Dr. German Larrain. “We have an incredible team of medical professionals and a fully integrated network of hospitals and clinics that allows us to offer patients living in our communities access to high quality cardiovascular care. Our patients know that they don’t need to travel outside the state, most of the times not even outside their local community”.

This year’s study included 951 U.S. hospitals with cardiovascular service lines. Compared to similar cardiovascular hospitals, this year’s winning hospitals had better results on indicators intended to measure clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, financial performance, and patient experience. Based on the methodology used by Watson Health, the study concludes that if all United States hospitals’ cardiovascular service lines performed at the level of these study winners, some 6,400 additional lives and roughly $1.4 billion could be saved, and 5,000 additional bypass and angioplasty patients could be complication-free.

“Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the hospitals recognized on the Fortune/IBM Watson Health 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals list are providing quality care in one of the most critical areas,” said Ekta Punwani, 100 Top Hospitals Program Leader, IBM Watson Health. “Hospitals are constantly working to improve clinical and operational performance, and the exceptional organizations on this list demonstrate the standard for top performing cardiac care. Their benchmarks serve as a real-world checkpoint for cardiovascular care across the U.S.”

The annual report highlights the top-performing cardiovascular hospitals in the U.S. based on a balanced scorecard of publicly available clinical, operational, and patient satisfaction metrics and data.

The winning hospitals were announced in Fortune. For more information, visit https://www.ibm.com/products/50-top-cardiovascular-hospitals.

Aspirus Health is a non-profit, community-directed health system based in Wausau, Wisconsin. Its 11,000 employees are focused on improving the health and well-being of people throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Aspirus serves communities through four hospitals in Michigan and 13 hospitals in Wisconsin, 75 clinics, home health and hospice care, pharmacies, critical care and air-medical transport, medical goods, nursing homes and a broad network of physicians. Aspirus has been recognized four consecutive years by IBM Watson Health as a Top 15 Health System in its annual study identifying the top-performing health systems in the country. For more information, visit aspirus.org.