Awards & Distinctions

St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center is New York State’s only specialty designated cardiac center, offering one of the leading cardiac care programs in the nation. A member of Catholic Health Services of Long Island, the Hospital is recognized as an innovator in the delivery of specialized cardiovascular services in an environment where excellence and compassion are emphasized.

St. Francis also offers an outstanding program in non-cardiac surgery, including some of the most advanced technology and minimally invasive techniques available for vascular, prostate, ear-nose-throat (ENT), abdominal, oncologic, and orthopedic surgery. These are some of the distinctions and accolades earned by the Hospital:

• The St. Francis Hospital medical and nursing staff are among the most experienced in the nation. In the past 10 years, over 100,000 cardiac catheterizations, 36,000 angioplasties, and 20,000 open-heart surgeries have been performed at the Hospital. Studies consistently show that patients fare better when they are cared for by physicians and hospitals that perform a high volume of procedures.
• The cardiac surgery program at St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center was recognized once again by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for having the largest cardiac surgical caseload in New York State and among the highest success rates. The NYSDOH also recognized St. Francis for being one of six hospitals in the state that had risk-adjusted mortality rates significantly below the statewide average. St. Francis has been recognized for outstanding success rates in cardiac surgery 11 times in the past 15 years that the State has issued reports, more than twice the number of times any other hospital in the metropolitan area has been recognized (January 2011). 
• St. Francis has one of the highest caseloads of cardiac arrhythmia procedures in the nation, including pioneering work in radiofrequency ablation and pacemaker and defibrillator implantation.
• For the fifth consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named St. Francis one of America’s best hospitals, and it was the only hospital on Long Island to be ranked in more than one of the magazine’s 12 adult medical and surgical specialty categories. The magazine honored St. Francis once again as a leader in heart and heart surgery, geriatrics and, for the first time, neurology and neurosurgery (July 2011).
• St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center® has the most physicians recommended for cardiac care on Long Island, according to U.S. News & World Report’s first ever Top Doctors rankings. Eighteen St. Francis heart doctors made the prestigious list and three of them were rated among the top one percent in the nation (July 2011). 
• St. Francis Hospital, The Heart Center has been ranked the best hospital on Long Island and seventh among New York Metro area hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in the first Best Hospitals regional rankings. In addition to the three specialties for which the Hospital is nationally ranked – heart and heart surgery, geriatrics and neurology and neurosurgery – St. Francis was rated high performing in seven more specialties: cancer, ear-nose-throat, gastroenterology, gynecology, kidney disorders, pulmonology, and urology. 
• St. Francis nurses were ranked among the top 10 percent in the nation by U.S. News & World Report (October 2010).
• The Hospital has earned the Magnet designation for excellence in nursing services, awarded to only 6 percent of American hospitals (April 2011).
• St. Francis has more top doctors for cardiac care on New York Magazine’s Best Doctors list than any other hospital on Long Island (June 2011).
• St. Francis Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award, recognizing the Hospital’s excellence in stroke care (May 2011). 
• St. Francis was rated the best hospital on Long Island and substantially above its state and national counterparts in “patient experience,” according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Hospital Compare, December 2010).
• The Hospital was selected as one of the best companies to work for in the U.S. by Modern Healthcare magazine (2010).
• The Hospital’s Outpatient Surgery and Emergency Departments were top-rated for overall satisfaction among large hospitals surveyed by HealthStream Research™, a leading patient satisfaction assessment company (2010).
• The DeMatteis Center for Cardiac research and Education at St. Francis Hospital received the Summit Award from Press Ganey for outstanding patient satisfaction (2010).
• St. Francis is accredited by The Joint Commission (2009-2012).
• The Hospital is a recognized national leader in cardiac non-invasive imaging, including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cardiac MRI), CT and PET/CT imaging, nuclear imaging, and three-dimensional echocardiography.
• St. Francis is a premier center for clinical trials and studies of the applications of cardiac MRI technology, as well as other image-guided methods of diagnosis and treatment for cardiovascular disease.
• The Hospital is the leading center on Long Island for catheter-based treatment of congenital heart defects.