U.S. NEWS: JOHNS HOPKINS IS TOP HOSPITAL AGAIN
For the seventh straight year, Johns Hopkins Hospital hasThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
claimed the top position in U.S. News & World Report's annual
ranking of "America's Best Hospitals." The rankings appear in
the July 28 issue. The guide assesses care for 17 specialties at
1,800 hospitals nationwide, 135 of which scored high enough to be
ranked. Rankings for 13 of the specialties were based on
reputation and various medical data. The reputational scores
were based on annual surveys of a geographic cross-section of 150
board-certified specialists in each of the 17 specialties, or
2,550 physicians in all. The rankings were compiled based on a
model developed by Craig Hill of the University of Chicago's
National Opinion Research Center. This year's standards were
"stiffened to reflect that medical procedures once considered
indicators of unusual competence have become routine" (U.S. News
& World Report release, 7/18).
DON'T BE BASHFUL
Johns Hopkins earned the top spot in three of the 17
specialties ranked: gynecology, urology and ophthalmology. In
addition, Baltimore Sun reports that Hopkins ranked "no lower
than fifth in 15 of the 17 specialty fields, eighth in cardiology
and 14th in rehabilitation." Of the rankings, Dr. Edward D.
Miller, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the medical
school, said, "Everybody says it's not a big deal -- but
everybody feels it is a big deal. We were prepared not to make
it, and we are relieved to be No. 1 again" (Salganik, 7/18).
THE REST OF THE BEST
The rankings include an "Honor Roll" list of 16 hospitals.
To make the listing, a hospital had to rank high in at least six
of 17 specialties." The 16 Honor Roll hospitals, listed in
descending order, are: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; Mayo
Clinic, Rochester, MN; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston;
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; UCLA Medical Center;
Cleveland Clinic; University of California, San Francisco Medical
Center; Stanford University Hospital, Stanford, CA; Brigham and
Women's Hospital, Boston; University of Michigan Medical Center,
Ann Arbor; University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle;
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis; University of Chicago
Hospitals; Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City; and Columbia-
Presbyterian Medical Center, New York.
THE TOP SPECIALTY HOSPITALS
U.S. News also ranked the top specialty hospitals,
including: AIDS, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center;
Cancer, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; Cardiology,
Cleveland Clinic; Geriatrics, UCLA Medical Center; Gynecology,
Johns Hopkins Hospital; Neurology, Mayo Clinic; Pediatrics,
Children's Hospital in Boston; and Psychiatric Care,
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (U.S. News & World
Report release, 7/18).