Is your local hospital among the best in the nation? According to the report posted on the US News and World Report website on July 18, 2011, 17 U.S. hospitals made the honor roll as the best in the nation for 2011–2012.
Best Hospitals in the U.S.
Here is the list of the best hospitals in the nation ranked for their medical excellence and listed in order from the most number of honor roll points to the least:
- Johns Hopkins Medical Center, Baltimore, MD - 30 points
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA - 29 points
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester Clinic, MN - 28 points
- Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH - 26 points
- Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA - 25 points
- New York - Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell N.Y. - 22 points
- UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco, CA - 20 points
- Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA - 18 points
- Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC - 18 points
- Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia - 17 points
- Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St Louis - 16 points
- UPMC University of Pittsburgh Medical Center - 14 points
- University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle - 13 points
- University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Center, Ann Arbor - 10 points
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville - 10 points
- Mount Sinai Medical Center, NY - 8 points
- Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, CA - 7 points
Johns Hopkins Ranked Number One Hospital
No surprise that the top-ranked hospital yet again is Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland. With over 5,000 hospitals evaluated, Johns Hopkins came away with more points than any other hospital in the nation.
This large teaching hospital is known as a leader in many areas of adult medical specialties including cancer, cardiology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology, neurosurgery and orthopedics. Among children's specialties, Hopkins is known for its pediatric oncology, cardiology, endocrinology and neonatology among others.
How Top Hospitals are Ranked
US News and World Report has conducted this hospital rating system since 1990 in an effort to help consumers find the best hospital and specialties to meet their individual health care needs. According to US News, their "Best Hospital" rankings judge each hospital on its competence to effectively manage high-risk situations in their patients.
Not all hospitals can meet these high standards well, as US News explains on their website. "A good way to determine how well a hospital deals with a medical challenge is to evaluate its performance across a range of challenges within the specialty. US News ranks hospitals in 16 different specialties, from cancer to urology. This year, only 140 of the 4,825 hospitals that we evaluated performed well enough to rank in even one specialty."
Finding Best Hospitals Near You
What if you are in need of specialized medical care and none of the top 17 hospitals are located near you? To help the consumer pick among the best hospitals in their local region, US News also has a list of the top rated hospitals in five metropolitan areas around the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Philadelphia, available on its website.
Brenda Lane - Brenda Lane is a published author, Lamaze certified childbirth educator, DONA certified birth doula and approved birth doula trainer.
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