Tampa Hospital associates receive Transplant Excellence Award for lung transplant program

New Lung Associates PA and the Lung Transplant Program at Tampa General Hospital have received HealthGrades 2011 Organ Transplant Excellence Award. The award places Tampa General Hospital among the top three lung transplant programs in the nation.

“Everyone benefits from these outcomes: the practice, the hospital, but most importantly the patients.”

As a consumer-focused site, HealthGrades offers independent healthcare ratings to help patients evaluate and compare more than 200 U.S. hospital transplant centers using risk-adjusted data for transplant recipients.

HealthGrades Transplant Excellence Awards identify the top performing hospitals that have a statistically higher three-year patient survival rate than the national average according to a review of the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). The award also requires a waitlist mortality rate that is not significantly different than expected or statistically lower according to HealthGrades' ratings.

"This designation is recognition of the hard work that the lung transplant coordinators, transplant surgeons, transplant nurses in the CTICU and transplant floor, and Dr. Tarik Haddad and I have all put into assuring the quality and success of this program," said Dr. Mark Rolfe, medical director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis and Lung Transplant Programs. "Everyone benefits from these outcomes: the practice, the hospital, but most importantly the patients."

Both single and double lung transplants are performed at Tampa General Hospital, depending on the patient's needs. Physicians Rolfe and Haddad lead the lung transplant team consisting of transplant thoracic surgeons, five dedicated transplant coordinators, respiratory therapists, financial counselors, social workers, psychologists, transplant assistants, and pharmacists.