When Suffolk resident Edward Carpenter started having some discomfort in his chest when he exerted himself, he knew he needed to mention it to his physician.

After a battery of tests and procedures, the 69-year-old soon found himself having bypass surgery at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center. And while he would have preferred not to need surgery in the first place, he couldn’t have been happier with how it went.

“From the time I arrived at Maryview until the time I departed Maryview, I just could not have expected any better,” Carpenter said. “I was very comfortable going in, and I can see why Maryview has been rated in the top 50 in the country.”

Carpenter referred to an honor announced recently for the Portsmouth hospital, which is the health care destination of many in North Suffolk.

Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center was named one of the nation’s 50 top cardiovascular hospitals by IBM Watson Health. Only four hospitals in Virginia were recognized, and it was the first time Maryview was recognized since the study began in 1999.

The other three hospitals were Bon Secours St. Mary’s in Richmond, Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in Roanoke and Centra Health in Lynchburg.

The study, conducted annually, uses a balanced national scorecard of hospital performance metrics to identify the top U.S. hospitals for inpatient cardiovascular services, according to a Bon Secours press release. It measured factors such as inpatient mortality, complications, readmissions within 30 days, length of stay, cost per case and more.

The study also showed if all cardiovascular providers in the United States performed at the level of this year’s winners, 8,900 lives and more than $1.4 billion could be saved, according to the release.

Dr. Robert Lancey, who is the medical director of cardiovascular and thoracic services of the Heart and Vascular Institute at Maryview, called the recognition for Maryview “a great honor.”

“The programs that we compete against are all trying to excel and take great care of patients,” he said. “For us to be recognized like that is wonderful. I think it’s a testimony to how hard all of the people who take care of our patients work.”

Lancey said the hospital has been recognized in the past for various aspects of its work, such as for heart attack care and stroke care, but this is the most all-encompassing honor it’s received.

“This is probably the first time we’ve had this type of award on a national level,” he said.

Lancey said there is an ever-increasing focus in health care on patient outcomes.

“This approach toward health care and this monitoring of health care outcomes is fairly new,” Lancey said.

The doctor believes the keys are to standardize what they do and collaborate to find the best approach for each patient.

“We tend to collaborate a lot to figure out what the best therapy is for the patients to break down the silos and tribal mentality that’s always existed in health care,” he said. “Everything is all about the patient — putting the patient first.”

Carpenter would agree.

“Since release, I’ve been doing exceptionally well,” he said. “The pain has been minimum. It’s in the process of healing very well.”

And though Lancey said the IBM Watson Health award was “for everybody” that worked at the hospital, Carpenter had special praise for Lancey himself.

“Dr. Lancey was one of those unique doctors in that he was so, so thorough and attentive to detail,” Carpenter said. “He would stop by and visit after surgery morning and afternoon and evening to make sure that I was doing OK. Some people refer to him as an angel. I would have to put him in the same category.”