Baylor heart hospital has lowest readmission rate in the U.S. for second straight year

Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital, for the second year in a row, had the lowest readmission rate for heart failure patients in the country, a key quality indicator that says the facility did the job right the first time. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to publicly release Baylor's quality scores in the coming weeks, along with those of more than 4,000 other hospitals across the nation. Hospitals were informed of their results this week; Baylor shared them with The Dallas Morning News on Friday. Baylor Heart and Vascular's readmission rate is 17.3 percent, while the national average is 24.5 percent. The agency has pointed to Baylor as a national example of superior quality for other hospitals to follow.