Skip to main content

Quality and Satisfaction Initiatives

Measurably Better for You. Find out what sets us apart.Deborah Heart and Lung Center is committed to quality care. Our vision is to be known for excellent clinical outcomes, for supreme customer-driven service, and as the ultimate leader in patient safety and privacy. We partner with quality providers and payers to ensure a seamless continuum of care to the patients we serve, continuously seeking to improve both service and quality in the most cost-effective manner.

Deborah uses the Continuous and Total Quality Improvement models to perform and evaluate vital processes that affect patient care at the Center. We involve our entire organization in a continuous process of customer-driven quality improvement activities.

Our commitment is exemplified by our participation in a number of federal, state, and privately supported quality programs. We voluntarily collect and submit data to a number of external programs.

We are proud of our performance and ranking at both national and state levels for our management of heart, lung, and vascular diseases.

  • STS Public Reporting

    Deborah is the Most Consistent Top Performer!

    Comparing Cardiac Surgery Outcome Scores

    Deborah Heart and Lung Center, New Jersey’s only specialty heart hospital, has received a distinguished three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for its patient care and outcomes in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, aortic valve replacement (AVR), AVR+CABG, mitral valve repair/replacement (MVRR)+CABG and a two-star rating in MVRR.

    The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is the highest designation awarded by the organization and represents one of the most respected professional benchmarks for quality cardiac surgery in the United States and Canada. Less than 7% of cardiac programs in the country receive this quality distinction. The star rating is calculated using a combination of quality measures for specific procedures performed by an STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database participant.

    Of the 18 hospitals in New Jersey that perform open heart procedures, only 13 have agreed to having their STS scores published. At Deborah, transparency is at the heart of everything we do. We’re proud of our consistently high ratings – which directly translate to safer procedures and better outcomes for our patients. In 2023, we remained a top performer and were awarded 3 out of 3 stars in CABG, AVR, AVR+CABG, MVRR+CABG and 2 stars in MVRR.

    Each color in this chart represents a specific New Jersey hospital, with Deborah in red.

    STS Outcomes

  • Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems

    Four Stars for Patient Experience as Rated by the HCAHPSThe HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care.

    While many hospitals have collected information on patient satisfaction for their own internal use, until HCAHPS there was no national standard for collecting and publicly reporting information about patient experience of care that allowed valid comparisons to be made across hospitals locally, regionally and nationally.

  • New Jersey Report Card

    Hospitals submit data to the New Jersey Department of Health for public reporting as part of the State’s hospital quality performance initiative to provide information on hospital quality to patients, families, and healthcare professionals. Deborah Heart and Lung Center submits data to the New Jersey Department of Health public reporting division for the following performance measures:

    • Heart Attack
    • Pneumonia
    • Surgical Care Improvement
    • Heart Failure
    • Stroke
    • Safety Indicators
    • Healthcare-Associated Infections
  • National Hospital Compare

    Hospital Compare has information about the quality of care at over 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals across the country. You can use Hospital Compare to find hospitals and compare the quality of their care.

    The information on Hospital Compare helps you make decisions about where you get your health care and encourages hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide.

    Hospital Compare was created through the efforts of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with organizations representing consumers, hospitals, doctors, employers, accrediting organizations, and other federal agencies.

    The Hospital Compare overall rating summarizes up to 57 quality measures across seven areas of quality into a single star rating for each hospital. Once reporting thresholds are met, a hospital’s overall rating is calculated using only those measures for which data are available. This may include as few as 9 or as many as 57 measures. The average is about 39 measures. Deborah has consistently achieved a rank in the top 10-20% of all hospitals nationwide and has achieved the status of “Top Hospital” for a number of quality measures.

    Deborah Heart and Lung Center submits data to this national database for public reporting for the following performance measures:

    • Mortality
    • Safety of Care
    • Readmission
    • Patient Experience
    • Effectiveness of Care
    • Timeliness of Care
    • Efficient Use of Medical Imaging
  • The Leapfrog Group

    Deborah Earns 2023 Top Teaching Hospital Award for Outstanding Quality and Safety

    Highlighting its nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality, Deborah Heart and Lung Center was named a 2023 Top Teaching Hospital nationally by The Leapfrog Group. The Leapfrog Top Hospital award is widely acknowledged as one of the most competitive awards American hospitals can receive. Over 2,200 hospitals were considered for the award and a total of 149 top hospitals nationwide were selected.

    The Leapfrog Group is an organization comprised of over 170 companies, including Fortune 500 companies and large and small private and public organizations that provide health benefits for their employees, retirees, and dependents. Leapfrog Group spends nearly $67 billion each year on health care for over 36 million Americans in all 50 states. This Group represents a significant purchasing power in the healthcare industry, the purpose of which is to use the way they purchase health care to influence hospitals to improve the safety, quality, and affordability of healthcare for Americans. This is achieved by rewarding hospitals who successfully implement initiatives that improve health care safety, quality, and customer value.

    Deborah Heart and Lung Center voluntarily completes the Leapfrog Survey for public reporting. In addition to scores on the survey, Leapfrog also assigns a Hospital Safety Grade. However, Deborah Heart and Lung Center is not assigned a safety grade because we are considered a specialty hospital and there is no safety grade for a specialty hospital.

    The Leapfrog Survey scores hospitals on the following measures:

    • Inpatient Care Management
    • Medication Safety
    • Hospital-Acquired Conditions
  • U.S. News & World Report

    U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in hospital rankings and consumer advice, has named Deborah Heart and Lung Center as a 2023-2024 High Performing hospital for COPD, Heart Attack, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement. This is the highest award a hospital can earn for U.S. News’ Best Hospitals Procedures & Conditions ratings.

    The annual Procedures & Conditions ratings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures. Deborah Heart and Lung Center earned High Performing ratings for Heart Failure, Heart Attack, Heart Bypass Surgery, COPD and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, in recognition of care that was significantly better than the national average, as measured by factors such as patient outcomes.

    For the 2023-2024 Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions. Fewer than half of all hospitals received any High Performing rating, and only four earned this rating in all procedures and conditions. State and metro area rankings reflect the highest performing hospitals in the area across multiple areas of care.

    The U.S. News Procedures & Conditions methodology is based entirely on objective measures of quality such as survival rates, patient experience, and how successfully each hospital helps patients get back home.

    US News High Performing Hospital

  • DNV GL Accredited

    DNV GL Accredited HospitalBy earning accreditation, Deborah Heart and Lung Center has demonstrated it meets or exceeds patient safety standards set forth by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. DNV GL’s accreditation program is the only one to integrate the ISO 9001 Quality Management System with the Medicare Conditions of Participation. ISO 9001 is the world’s most trusted quality management system used by performance-driven organizations around the world to advance their quality and sustainability objectives.

    DNV GL’s accreditation program, called NIAHO® (Integrated Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations), involves annual hospital surveys and encourages hospitals to openly share information across departments and to discover improvements in clinical workflows and safety protocols.

    DNV GL is a world-leading certification body that helps hospitals achieve excellence by improving quality and patient safety through hospital accreditation, managing infection risk, and management system certification and training. The DNV GL Group operates in more than 100 countries.

Awards & Recognition

3 Star Rating CABG Survey - Society of Thoracic SurgeonsDeborah Receives Highest Heart Surgery Recognition

Deborah Heart and Lung Center has received a distinguished three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for its patient care and outcomes in isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery. The STS three-star rating is the highest designation awarded by the organization and less than 7% of cardiac programs in the country receive this quality distinction.

Get with the guidelines logo

American Heart Association Honors Deborah’s Heart Failure Program

Deborah has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Heart Failure Gold Plus award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring all heart failure patients have access to best practices and life-saving care.

Terms & Conditions

By participating in this quiz, or screening or health assessment, I recognize and accept all risks associated with it. I understand that the program will only screen for certain risk factors and does not constitute a complete physical exam. For the diagnosis of a medical problem, I must see a physician for a complete medical exam. I release Deborah Heart and Lung Center and any other organization(s) involved in this screening, and their employees and agents, from all liabilities, medical claims or expenses which may arise from my participation. Thank you for investing in your health by participating today.