Washington hospitals earn cardiac care quality awards

The Foundation for Health Care Quality’s Cardiac Care Outcomes Assessment Program recognized hospitals in Washington and nearby states for high performance on cardiac procedure quality metrics in 2026. The awards highlight benchmarking on PCI, cardiac surgery and transcatheter procedures across a regional physician-led network.

Why it matters: - The awards signal which hospitals met top cardiac care benchmarks for procedures that affect survival, recovery and complications. - The program is designed to push quality improvement by comparing performance across hospitals and sharing best practices in the Pacific Northwest. - The recognition covers three major procedure categories: coronary artery bypass graft surgery, percutaneous coronary intervention and transcatheter procedures.

What happened: - The Foundation for Health Care Quality’s Cardiac Care Outcomes Assessment Program announced 2026 performance recognition awards for member hospitals. - Award recipients are in Washington state, with one recipient in Oregon. - The awards were based on the prior assessment year and were announced July 7, 2026.

The details: - To qualify, hospitals had to perform at or above the state average on key quality indicators. - No metric could fall more than two standard deviations below the state average. - Hospitals also had to submit all data on time. - For PCI, recipients were Evergreen Health in Kirkland; MultiCare Auburn Regional Medical Center in Auburn; MultiCare Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane; MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup; MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma; PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, Oregon; Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Everett; Virginia Mason Franciscan Health St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way; and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. - For cardiac surgery, recipients were Providence Regional Medical Center Everett in Everett; Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane; Providence Swedish Medical Center Cherry Hill in Seattle; and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma. - For transcatheter procedures, recipients were MultiCare Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane and MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital in Tacoma. - Cardiac COAP is a physician-led program that has operated since 1997. - The program collects clinical data from patient medical records to benchmark performance and develop quality metrics. - Clinicians meet monthly to review data, discuss challenges and identify improvement opportunities. - Individual hospitals and physicians receive real-time data reports and access to program resources and expertise. - All hospitals that perform cardiovascular surgery and PCI are members of Cardiac COAP.

Between the lines: - The membership model creates a broad dataset for comparison, which strengthens the value of the awards and the benchmarking process. - The regional structure also gives hospitals a forum to discuss care gaps without waiting for formal public reporting cycles. - The program’s focus on transparent comparison can pressure hospitals to keep improving even after earning recognition.

What's next: - Member hospitals will continue submitting data and comparing results against state averages. - Clinicians will keep using monthly COAP meetings to review outcomes and identify quality-improvement targets. - Hospitals that do not meet the threshold this year can use the same benchmarks and reports to close gaps before the next assessment cycle.

The bottom line: - The 2026 awards show which hospitals are delivering strong cardiac procedure outcomes in a regional quality network built around measurement, peer comparison and continuous improvement.