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Cardiac Centers of Excellence

Cardiac Centers of Excellence: The Heart of Quality Care

BCBSM established the Cardiac Centers of Excellence program to help Blues members make informed choices about where to go to receive quality cardiac care.

Hospitals and their cardiac care staff that have met BCBSM's established quality criteria earned the Cardiac Centers of Excellence designation. To participate in the program, a hospital must meet the criteria for volume of cardiac procedures performed, staff credentials, acceptably low frequency of medical complications and deaths associated with cardiac procedures. The hospital's quality assurance program for monitoring and evaluating care is also a major consideration.

On volume of services performed, we evaluate a hospital's performance against benchmark criteria associated with successful outcomes as follows:
  • At least three years' experience in providing cardiac services
  • Annual performance of a minimum of 300 open heart surgeries, 400 angioplasties and 500 cardiac catheterizations for the three most recent years
Hospitals in the CCOE network must demonstrate high-quality care processes with regard to mortality and complication rates for the different procedures and performance indicators pertaining to acute myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure treatment.

In addition, hospitals must meet the following quality requirements:
  • Participate in the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition hospital survey
  • Score at least in the top two categories in the MH&SC
  • Participate in statewide data registries to facilitate continuous quality improvement
    • Open Heart Procedures — Society of Thoracic Surgeons Adult Cardiac Surgery Database
    • Percutaneous Coronary Interventions — BCBSM Cardiovascular Consortium Collaborative Quality Improvement Initiative on Angioplasty
  • Must have processes in place to address the medical necessity of cardiac procedures, track outcomes, and improve quality
We encourage use of these hospitals if cardiac care is needed, because they have achieved excellent results with cardiac procedures. Whether you use one of the centers is strictly your choice and won't affect your benefits or out-of-pocket costs. This information is intended to educate members about the various options available through BCBSM's vast network of providers.

To view a list of CCOE facilities, select "Cardiac Centers of Excellence" as the facility type on the Hospitals and Facilities Search page.