America's Best Hospitals

U.S. & News & World Report for July 21-28, 2008 identified America’s best hospitals.  Wonder what criteria are used to qualify as “best”?  First, hospitals are not judged on routine procedures but rather on difficult cases across an entire specialty.  This year’s survey ranked hospitals on 16 specialties spanning cancer and heart disease to respiratory disorders and urology.  Out of 5,453 hospitals considered, only 170 met the rigorous ranking in the specialty rankings.

Criteria for consideration includes hard data, nominations by specialists, membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, affiliation with a medical school, and availability of at least six of 13 key technologies (ex. robotic surgery).

The top ten hospitals to make the honor roll are:

             
1  John Hopkins Hospital

2  Mayo Clinic

3  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

4  Cleveland Clinic

5  Massachusetts General Hospital

6  New York – Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell

7  University of California, San Francisco Medical Center

8  Brigham and Women’s Hospital

9  Duke University Medical Center

10 Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania


It would be interesting to hear from the MSPs who work at these facilities to learn how their roles influence the honor roll. status.  Future article?

Carole La Pine, MSA, CPMSM, CPCS