Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital
Ranked Among Nation's Top Heart Centers for 15th Consecutive Year

HOUSTON (July 7, 2005) In its annual survey of "America's Best Hospitals," U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital among the nation's top ten heart centers for the 15th consecutive year.

 "The consistency of this honor reflects the unwavering dedication and outstanding work of our physicians, scientists, and nursing and support staff," said Denton A. Cooley, M.D., founder, president and surgeon-in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute, and chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. "We value this recognition as we move forward to expand our world-renowned leadership in education, research and treatment of heart disease."

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is the only heart center in Houston and the Southwest to be listed among the top ten in its category by U.S. News.

"Certainly the high ranking of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's demonstrates the exceptional cardiovascular expertise of our medical staff," said David J. Fine, president and CEO of St. Luke's Episcopal Health System. "In addition, the ranking reflects well upon our nationally recognized nursing program and our superior work environment, as demonstrated by our repeat awards as one of FORTUNE's '100 Best Companies to Work For.' Overall, St. Luke's maintains a culture of excellence that on a daily basis results in remarkable accomplishments."

The annual rankings, determined through criteria such as surgical volume, ratio of registered nurses to beds, number of medical and surgical discharges and recognition by peers, are designed to assist people in seeking the highest level of skills in diagnosing, treating or managing difficult medical conditions.  "America's Best Hospitals" is the leading effort to compare all hospitals in the United States fairly and objectively.

"We're very gratified to see our ranking advance from ninth to eighth place. We believe our reputation score, which rose more than five percentage points, is a direct reflection of our research and education efforts to develop new treatments and technologies which are skillfully applied by physicians on our medical staff," said James Willerson, M.D., medical director and president-elect of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's.

The hospitals were evaluated using a model developed by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. To be eligible for ranking, a hospital had to meet at least one of three requirements: affiliation with a medical school, membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals or availability of at least nine of 18 key medical technologies. Of more than 6,000 hospitals in the nation, less than one third met the eligibility criteria. Only 176 qualified for ranking. The methodology was changed last year to reflect whether a hospital has received Nurse Magnet recognition, which means the American Nurses Association has formally recognized the hospital as meeting high standards of nursing excellence. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital was the first hospital in Texas to receive the Magnet designation four years ago and the hospital recently received the designation award for a second time.

The 2005 top-ranked heart centers, appearing in the July 18 edition are: 1) Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH; 2) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN;  3) Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; 4) Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; 5) Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; 6) Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston;  7) New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York City 8) Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Houston; 9) Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis; 10) University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham. For more information about the rankings, log on to U.S. News Online, www.usnews.com.

###

The Texas Heart Institute was founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, M.D., for the study and treatment of diseases of the heart and blood vessels.  With its clinical partner St. Luke's, the Texas Heart Institute has mended more hearts with and without surgery than any other facility.  The Institute also has been the scene of major advances in the surgical and non-surgical treatment of cardiovascular disease, including the first successful heart transplant in the United States; the first implantation of an artificial heart in man; the first implantation in the world of the Jarvik 2000 heart assist device, the first U.S. implantation of the HeartMate II heart assist device, and the development of new applications for stents and stent-like devices.  Basic research and clinical applications have led to innovative and effective methods of preventing and treating heart disease. For more information about the Institute, please visit www.texasheartinstitute.org.

St. Luke's was founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. St. Luke's is home to the world-renowned Texas Heart Institute, founded in 1962. In 2001, St. Luke's earned the Magnet designation, the highest honor in patient care. It is the first hospital in Texas and the Southwest to be so honored. For more information about the hospital, please visit www.stlukestexas.com