50 Top Reasons we are a 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospital

Provena Covenant Medical Center is proud to be named one of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the United States by Thomson-Reuters, making us the only hospital in the area and one of only three hospitals in Illinois to receive this honor.

The 50 Top Reasons Provena Covenant Medical Center is a
Thomson-Reuters 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospital

1. YOU. We strive to continuously improve so that we can offer you a better chance of survival and lower complication rates than other non-winning hospitals across the nation. 
2. Our team of expert cardiac physicians with multiple specialties including Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiovascular Surgery.
3. Our compassionate employees who are dedicated to improving patient results while enhancing comfort and the overall patient experience.
4. As one of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospital award winners, Provena Covenant provides better risk-adjusted survival rates (23 percent fewer deaths than non-winning hospitals for bypass surgery patients).
5. As one of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospital award winners, Provena Covenant provides lower complication rates and lower costs. Top hospitals spend $4,200 less per bypass case than non-winners.
6. We worked hard to improve so that we could earn a dual-accreditation for Heart Failure and Chest Pain Center from the Society of Chest Pain Centers making us the only hospital in Central Illinois and one of only two hospitals in Illinois with this honor.
7. We recently remodeled our cardiac catheterization labs. They provide our physicians with the most technologically-advanced, safest and efficient environment in which to perform procedures. 
8. Our Sensei X® robotic technology for electrophysiology procedures makes us the only hospital in the area to offer this leading-edge technology.
9. Our cardiologist Dr. Batlagundu Lakshminarayanan who provides health care to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and conditions of the heart and cardiovascular system, including the arteries.
10. Our interventional cardiologists, Dr. Lawrence Atherton, Dr. Bhaskar Patel, Dr. V. Reddy, Dr. Prakash Thopiah and Dr. Michael Wingo, who use catheter-based, minimally-invasive approaches to treating cardiovascular diseases.
11. Our cardiac electrophysiologists, Dr. Abraham Kocheril and Dr. Subbiah Rajaguru, who are experts on the electrical system of the heart.
12. Our cardiovascular surgeons, Dr. Ronald Cossman, Dr. Adolf Lo, Dr. Frank Lutrin and Cardiac Surgery Associates, who perform surgery on the heart and great vessels.  
13. All the dedicated paramedics, first responders and other emergency management services professionals that perform EKGs while in route to the hospital, administer heart-saving drugs and quickly yet safely transfer heart attack victims to the hospital.
14. The technology that allows PRO Ambulance to perform and send EKGs directly to the Emergency Department while the ambulance is still on its way to the hospital. This allows ED staff to properly prepare for the patient and decreases the time it takes to get the patient from the ED doors to the catheterization lab.
15. Our team of emergency physicians and staff, led by Emergency Department Medical Director Dr. Lawrence Miller, who realize the urgency of treatment and work quickly to diagnose heart patients.  
16. Our dedicated and professional Cardiac Surgery Associates staff that cover call on nights and weekends.
17. The skills and expertise of our operating room staff.
18. Members of our medical staff whose mission is to further the science of medicine through research. For example, Dr. Abraham Kocheril recently served as co-investigator for a medical research study entitled, “The Effects of Classical Piano Music on Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Patients.” This was to further his previous study on the effects of harp music on atrial fibrillation patients.
19. Our cardiac rehab program improves heart health by changing lifestyles through education and exercise. The program is run by a team of medical professionals who are specially trained to treat people with heart disease. 
20. When heart surgeons do coronary bypass surgery, they often need to use a vein from the leg. For the past seven years at Provena Covenant Medical Center, Cardiothoracic Surgeon Ronald Cossman, MD has used a minimally invasive approach on over 99% of bypass patients where a 1-inch incision is made near the knee. When compared to the traditional open procedure, this results in drastically less scarring, less risk of infection, significantly less pain and shorter hospital stays.  
21. President and CEO Michael Brown’s vision for enhancing our heart care by continuously adding the most advanced cardiac technologies, working with physician experts and improving our facilities to provide excellent patient care.
22. Our nurses, medical technicians and other staff in the 3 East Medical Surgical unit who compassionately care for patients after they have had a heart procedure or surgery.
23. Our partnerships with Christie Clinic and independent physicians help us integrate care across the continuum of care.
24. Being a part of the largest Catholic health care system in Illinois gives us access to the level of medicine and expertise only in metropolitan areas like Chicago.
25. Our radiologists who promptly and accurately interpret MRIs and CT-Scans for emergent heart patients.  
26. Customer service excellence is a top priority for all employees. Through multi-disciplinary teams of physicians and staff, we have adopted customer service standards designed to support the hospital’s mission and values. These teams focus on different aspects of service – inpatient care, outpatient care, emergency department, communication/measurement, physician satisfaction and employee reward and recognition.
27. Our specially-trained medical professionals working in our Critical Care Unit(CCU) monitor patients 24/7.
28. We are fully engaged in lean management practices with the overall goals of creating an environment with innovative processes, reducing waste and associated costs, increasing capacity, and providing excellent service and patient care.
29. Provena Covenant Medical Center Foundation for providing the funding required to offer the technology needed to treat heart patients and to help our medical staff advance their research efforts.
30. Our mission, building communities of healing and hope by compassionately responding to human need in the spirit of Jesus Christ, is the driving force behind all that we do. This means we invest in our community and the technology and facilities needed to care for our communities.  
31. Our $99 Heart Scan that identifies your risk of heart disease years before any signs or symptoms occur. Using our 64-slice CT technology, we measure the calcium or hard plaque in your arteries, which can ultimately lead to a heart attack.
32. Our vision directs where we spend our resources. We strive to be known for clinical and service excellence, and to become the preferred choice based on responsiveness to community needs, quality, value and innovation.
33. Our full service inpatient pharmacy who handles all of the medication needs of our patients, including clinical functions of drug therapy monitoring, pharmacokinetic dosing, patient counseling, drug information, drug therapy, consultations, pain management, and other clinical duties as needed.
34. Our values of respect, integrity, stewardship and excellence are the framework on which we stand. They provide the guiding light as we achieve exceptional performance through continuous growth and development.
35. Our free, 7-minute online  HeartAware risk assessment that identifies your risk of heart disease.  
36. We use "smart pump" technologies to help reduce medication errors during the administration of intravenous (IV) medications. The Smart IV pump acts as an "assistant" to nurses and clinicians that administer IV medications at the point of care. As a health-care provider enters dosage and infusion rate information into the system, the software accesses the health system's drug library and compares the order against a preset standard for minimum and maximum doses.  Anything above or below the pre-established limits will result in an alert to the clinician.
37. Our community outreach programs that help the people in our service areas identify their risk of heart disease through educational events, exercise classes, screenings and more.
38. Our comprehensive imaging capabilities that allow us to quickly diagnose heart problems. Some of these technologies include our 64-slice CT scanner, MRIs, etc.
39. Our original sponsors, the Sisters of the Holy Heart of Mary, who founded the hospital in 1919.
40. Our Board of Directors for governing the day-to-day business and affairs of the ministry. They guide our development in a way that is responsive to community needs and consistent with the mission and direction provided by Provena Covenant.  
41. Our home care team members who care for patients that are recovering from their heart procedures at home.
42. For patients in the Danville area, Provena United Samaritans Medical Center provides a critical resource for people with heart problems to get to a point where it is safe to transfer them to Provena Covenant.
43. Our environmental services/housekeeping staff who maintain the cleanliness of the facility therefore providing a safe, pleasant environment for patients, staff and visitors.
44. Our critical care rooms utilize eICU (enhanced intensive care unit). eICU is a revolutionary service that utilizes enhanced computer software and physiology monitoring technologies to get immediate critical care physician and nurse input about any change in a patient's condition.
45. Our food and nutrition department who commits itself to promoting and restoring health through the provision of quality nutritional care services in an environment that maintains dignity and respect for each person.   
46. With the help of Provena Covenant Foundation, we have donated and installed Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in several organizations throughout our community. The one we installed at the Lake of the Woods golf course in Mahomet helped save a man’s life.
47. We provide a staff of pastoral ministers of nearly all faiths who are on duty, or on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  
48. Our financial assistance program so patients can get better without the stress of having to worry about money. In 2010, we contributed more than $23 million in community benefit initiatives, including charity care (at cost), discounted care, losses on Medicaid, and community health and outreach services.
49. We performed the area's first open-heart surgery in our facilities in 1970.
50. We performed the region's first successful arterial stent implant in 1994.

This list of 50 Top Reasons is not in any particular order and is by no means comprehensive. If you feel like we have inadvertently left an important reason off this list, please contact us at (217) 337-2855 or e-mail crystal.senesac@provena.org.

See the full report from Thomson Reuters of the 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study here.