U.S. News Releases 2012-13 Rankings of Best Hospitals
U.S. News & World Report has released its 23rd annual Best Hospitals rankings and a new hospital has seized the No. 1 spot. The rankings are freely available at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and will be featured in the upcoming Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook.
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston is #1 on the U.S. News Honor Roll this year, displacing Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, which had been No. 1 on the Honor Roll for 21 years in a row.
In all, this year's rankings showcase 732 hospitals out of nearly 4,800 hospitals nationwide, including the best in each of 16 medical specialties and in more than 90 metropolitan areas. For the first time, U.S. News has also named a No. 1 hospital in each state where hospitals met the publication's rigorous criteria.
Those criteria reflect the core mission of Best Hospitals, which is to help guide patients who need the highest level of medical care because of a difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age. "The nationally ranked hospitals are referral centers where other hospitals send their sickest patients," said Avery Comarow, U.S. News health rankings editor. "These are hospitals that patients and their families should consider, with guidance from a medical professional, when the stakes are high."
Only 148 hospitals earned a national ranking in one or more of the 16 specialties, which include cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, orthopedics, and pulmonology. The top-ranked hospitals in those four specialties are listed below.
Cancer: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
Cardiology & Heart Surgery: Cleveland Clinic
Orthopedics: Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
Pulmonology: National Jewish Health, Denver-University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora
The Best Hospitals in all 16 specialties are listed here: www.usnews.com/besthospitals
Hospitals that are not nationally ranked can still achieve a ranking in their state and can be recognized as among the best in their metropolitan area or region, thus making the roster of Best Regional Hospitals. To do so, a hospital has to perform at nearly the level of the nationally ranked institutions (in the top 25 percent) in at least one specialty. "These high-performing hospitals are fully capable of giving most patients first-rate care even if they have serious conditions or need demanding procedures," Comarow said. "Almost every major metro area has at least one of these hospitals." The Best Regional Hospitals lists are aimed primarily at consumers who seek high-quality care but may be less willing or able to travel long distances. These lists give such patients and their families more options within their community and in their health insurance network.
Patient survival rates, infection rates, patient safety measures, nurse-to-patient ratios, and other objective data underpin the rankings in most specialties. National surveys of medical specialists also were factored in.
In an exclusive arrangement, the launch of this edition of Best Hospitals is being sponsored by Fidelity Investments.
The 2012-13 Honor Roll
These hospitals ranked near the top in six or more specialty rankings
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
Cleveland Clinic
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis
New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, N.Y.
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
NYU Langone Medical Center, New York
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Indiana University Health, Indianapolis
University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor
Source: U.S. News & World Report