Patients at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center had a better chance of surviving a heart attack than at any other hospital in New Jersey in the latest information available from the government.

The hospital was also among the top 10 in the country for treating Medicare patients with heart attacks from July 2006 to June 2007.

The death rate at Englewood from heart attack was 12.4 percent within 30 days, significantly better than the national average of 16.1 percent, according to Medicare data.

All other hospitals in Bergen and Passaic counties had death rates that were statistically within the national average.

This is the first time Medicare has provided an actual mortality rate, rather than a simple statement of whether the hospital's rates are better, worse or no different than the national rate.

Englewood has worked hard to shorten the time it takes from a patient's arrival to the removal of blockages in the blood vessels of the heart, said Kathleen Kaminsky, the hospital's vice president for clinical effectiveness. That "door-to-balloon" time, a measure of the time to angioplasty, has been reduced to 50 minutes this year, she said.

The government's target for all hospitals is 90 minutes.

Of the seven other hospitals in the area, none was considered significantly different - because of the statistical margin of error - than the 16.1 percent national average.

In the previous period, however, both Hackensack and Bayonne Medical Center were better than average in treatment of heart failure.

Death rates were also posted for heart failure and pneumonia at every hospital. All of the Bergen and Passaic hospitals were within the range of the national average.

However, CentraState Medical Center in Freehold and Virtua West Jersey Hospitals in Berlin were better for treatment of heart failure than the national average. Community Medical Center in Toms River was better for treatment of pneumonia.

The numbers show that, with only minor differences, all hospitals in Bergen County are good, said Dr. Louis Teichholz, director of cardiology at Hackensack.

"There's no real statistical difference," Teichholz said Friday. "And the residents of Bergen County can see the numbers for our places are much better than for hospitals in New York City."

This year Hackensack had slightly better mortality rates than Englewood for heart failure and pneumonia, Teichholz noted. Hackensack also did better on some procedures, taking less time to open an artery, for instance, than some other hospitals in the area, he said.

In general, "I think it's very important to have transparency, for hospitals to have the numbers out there," he said. "Many hospitals did not strive for quality before there was public reporting. Now it's forcing them to put the patient first."

The death rates were considered within 30 days of admission to the hospital, to correct for patients who die of the condition after being discharged to a nursing home or their own home.

By posting these numbers, the Center for Medicare Services "is giving consumers and communities additional insight into the performance of their local hospitals," a statement said. The agency "hopes that this will prompt all hospitals to work toward achieving the level of the top-performing hospitals in the country."

It also serves as a benchmark to show whether hospitals improve their care in future years.

A big problem with a report such as this one, however, is that most of the hospitals are lumped in the middle, said Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, director of health research for Public Citizen, a Washington-based patient advocacy group.

"Very few hospitals are 'outstanding' or not good," in these ratings, Wolfe said Friday. "From the standpoint of the patient, instead of learning more about your hospital, it won't be distinguishable from other hospitals."

The report is better than nothing, but hospitals need to be actually graded according to procedures, Wolfe said.

Staff Writer Bob Groves contributed to this article. E-mail: washburn@northjersey.com