The 32nd annual version of widely read rankings featured mostly the same top 20 hospitals that make the list in year's past.
For the sixth straight year, Mayo Clinic sits atop the 20 Best Hospitals rankings published Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report.
The 32nd annual version of widely read rankings, which emphasizes outcomes, patient experience and risk adjustment, featured mostly the same top 20 hospitals that make the list in year's past.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the only new hospital to crack the Honor Roll, while Keck Medical Center of USC, Los Angeles, ranked 18th last year, was dropped from the Top 20.
Using data primarily from Medicare's Standard Analytical File, much of which predates the pandemic, hospitals across the nation in were ranked on 26 adult specialties, including: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, psychiatry, pulmonology and lung surgery, rehabilitation, rheumatology, and urology, U.S. News said.
This year's methodology includes seven new "bellwether" ratings that include back surgery (spinal fusion), diabetes, heart attack, hip fracture, kidney failure, pneumonia and stroke.
Honor Roll Hospitals received points if they were nationally ranked in 15 specialties – the more specialties and the higher their rank, the more points they got – and if they were rated high performing in any of 17 procedures and conditions. The top point-scorers made the Honor Roll.
The study evaluated nearly every community hospital in the nation. Only 134 hospitals out of more than 4,300 were nationally ranked in one specialty, while 563 were ranked among the Best Regional Hospitals in a state or metro area based on their performance in delivering complex and common care, U.S. News said.
Here’s the 2021-22 Best Hospitals Honor Roll. The numbers in parentheses are the 2020-21 rankings.
1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. (1)
2. Cleveland Clinic. (2)
3. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles. (4)
4. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (3)
5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. (5)
6. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. (7)
7. New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, New York. (4)
8. NYU Langone Hospitals, New York. (9)
9. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco. (8)
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago. (10)
11. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor. (11)
12. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California. (13)
13. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia. (15)
14. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. (12)
15. Mayo Clinic-Phoenix. (16)
16. Houston Methodist Hospital. (20)
17. (tie) Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis. (18)
17. (tie) Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. (18)
19. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago. (17)
20. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The widely read rankings emphasizes outcomes, patient experience and risk adjustment.
Much of the data used for the rankings predates the coronavirus pandemic.
This year's methodology includes seven new "bellwether" ratings.