The UAB Cardiovascular Institute (CVI) and Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery have earned the highest caliber of quality accreditation from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) for procedural outcomes and patient care in the evaluation of surgical cases spanning from January 2022 through December 2024 – placing UAB in the top one percent of all U.S. cardiothoracic surgery programs.

Classified with three-star ratings across all six STS categories, UAB CVI is now one of the few multidisciplinary cardiovascular disease centers with this recognition.

Accreditation Process & New Criteria

In a close examination of cases over a three-year period, surgeons and healthcare practitioners of the UAB CVI submitted data to the STS National Database, which is the foremost cardiothoracic quality system - comprised of over 1,000 centers across the United States and Canada - for the following surgical procedures:

• Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG)
• Isolated Aortic Valve Replacement (AVR)
• AVR + CABG
• Mitral Valve Repair / Replacement (MVRR)
• MVRR + CABG
• Multi-Procedural Operations (All Analyzed Procedures + AVR + MVRR +/- CABG)

This evaluation cycle marks the very first time that all programs were evaluated on the added category of multi-procedural operations, which combines the strenuous criteria of the five existing evaluation points into a new grouping for cases involving extensive, multi-modal cardiothoracic repair involving numerous procedure types.

At the conclusion of its exhaustive evaluation, UAB achieved the highest ranking of three stars for each of the six STS procedural categories, additionally noting that outcomes for the combined CABG and MVRR procedures were in the top two percent of all participating organizations.

This outstanding accomplishment exemplifies a long-standing commitment to the UAB CVI’s prioritization of continued education, development of curated patient care plans, and dedication to pioneering clinical research and techniques in the cardiothoracic space.

“This recognition is the culmination of our center’s enduring mission to provide the best care possible for our patients and to transform the level of cardiothoracic care across the Southeast,” says James Davies, M.D., director of the CVI and Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery. “This is a fantastic accomplishment for our providers, APPs, nursing team, anesthesia critical care partners, and, especially our STS quality group, who have led us to this milestone. Their dedication has created a legacy of excellence that sets us apart as one of the few programs in the country who have reached this accomplishment.”

About the Society for Thoracic Surgeons

Founded in 1964, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) is a not-for-profit professional organization representing surgeons, researchers, and allied health care professionals who are dedicated to ensuring the best possible outcomes for surgeries of the heart, lungs, and esophagus, as well as other surgical procedures within the chest.

STS is the largest cardiothoracic surgery organization in the world with more than 7,800 members in 102 countries.

The STS National Database is the gold standard for CT surgery clinical outcomes registries, with nationally recognized quality performance measures for adult cardiac, general thoracic, congenital heart surgery, and mechanical circulatory support.