St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem was named as one of the nation’s top performing hospitals by Fortune magazine and IBM Watson Health.

The annual Fortune/IBM 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals study spotlights leading short-term, acute care, nonfederal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients. The study is designed to identify impartial, actionable and attainable benchmarks for hospital and clinical leaders as they work to raise their own organizations’ standards of performance in cardiac care.

“On behalf of St. Luke’s Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, I am proud to say this is affirmation of our commitment to excellence,” says Raymond Durkin, chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine, St. Luke’s University Health Network. “Our attention to details such as clinical outcomes, patient experience and cost efficiencies have made us the market share leader in the region.”

“The organizations named to the list of IBM Watson 50 Top Hospitals are setting the national standards for high quality, efficient, patient-centered care for heart disease,” adds Donna Sabol, senior vice president and chief quality officer, St. Luke’s University Health Network. “This award reflects the hard work, dedication and commitment of the entire St. Luke’s cardiovascular team. St. Luke’s advanced heart and vascular care services allow us to provide the most superior quality care close to home and across the region.”

This year’s study included 951 U.S. hospitals with cardiovascular service lines. Compared to similar cardiovascular hospitals, this year’s winning hospitals had better results on indicators intended to measure clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, financial performance, and patient experience. Based on the methodology used by Watson Health, the study concludes that if all United States hospitals’ cardiovascular service lines performed at the level of these study winners, some 6,400 additional lives and roughly $1.4 billion could be saved, and 5,000 additional bypass and angioplasty patients could be complication-free.