Best Hospitals list isn’t definitive, some say

The annual release of U.S. News & World Report ratings of the nation's best hospitals is good for hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic, which was rated as one of the top-ranked hospitals (No. 4), and as the nation's No. 1 heart hospital for the 14th straight year. But the publication also stirs debate about whether the popular rankings are good for consumers. The rankings of 170 hospitals carry a lot of weight, but they favor large academic centers and lean heavily on reputation instead of the best available quality measures, some say.