Three Allina Hospitals among the Nation's Top 100 Cardiovascular Centers; Solucient(R) Honors Hospitals That are Setting Benchmark Levels of Performance.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Three hospitals that are a part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics are among the nation's 100 top cardiovascular hospitals according to Evanston, Ill.-based Solucient(R). The three hospitals are United Hospital in St. Paul, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis.

"Clearly, Allina hospitals offer some of the highest quality care available in our communities," said Dick Pettingill, president & CEO Allina Hospitals & Clinics. "With cardiovascular disease still the number one killer, it's reassuring to know that Minnesota residents can go to one of Allina's three heart hospitals and receive the best care in the country for cardiovascular disease. We are honored to be recognized for our ongoing commitment to providing outstanding health care."

According to Solucient, the top 100 cardiovascular hospitals have common characteristics, including better outcomes. Specifically:

--If cardiovascular services in all acute-care hospitals performed at the same level as the top 100 hospitals, 10,000 additional cardiovascular patients would survive each year; and an additional 1,100 patients would be complication-free.

--The top 100 hospitals annually perform as much as 80 percent more bypass surgeries and PCIs, including angioplasties, as their peers.

--Cardiovascular patients at the top 100 hospitals return to everyday life faster than those at other hospitals and they were released on average more than a half-day earlier than other patients.

--Average cardiovascular-related costs for the top 100 hospitals were nearly 15 percent lower than at other hospitals.

--The top 100 hospitals were more likely than others to provide revascularization to patients with the most severe heart attacks.

--The top 100 hospitals are 23 percent less likely than others to have post-operative infections and about 20 percent less likely to have post-operative hemorrhage for patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Solucient scored facilities in seven key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, complications, percentage of CABG patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage and severity-adjusted average cost. The 2005 Solucient 100 Top Hospitals(R): Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study appears in the Oct. 31 edition of Modern Healthcare magazine. More information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com.

Mercy & Unity Hospitals, located in Coon Rapids and Fridley, are non-profit hospitals that serve the northern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The hospitals, which are part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, cared for 250,000 patients in 2004. More information is located at www.mercyunity.com.

United Hospital, the largest hospital in the Twin Cities east metro area, is a non-profit hospital providing a full range of health care services to more than 160,000 people each year. United offers a wide range of health services including a birth center, cardiac care in the John Nasseff Heart Hospital, emergency care, oncology, orthopedics, neurosciences and epilepsy, a pain center, rehabilitation, medical imaging and surgery. More information about the hospital, which is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, can be found on the Internet at www.unitedhospital.com.

Minneapolis-based Abbott Northwestern Hospital is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a non-profit network of hospitals, clinics and other health care services. Abbott Northwestern is found online at www.abbottnorthwestern.com and the latest health information is at www.medformation.com.

Allina Hospitals & Clinics is a not-for-profit system of hospitals, clinics and other health care services, providing care throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Allina owns and operates 11 hospitals, 65 clinics, home care and hospice services, oxygen and equipment, pharmacies, and emergency medical transportation services. Allina Hospitals & Clinics and the latest health information can be found online at www.allina.com.