University of Washington Medical Center (UWMC) has ranked 10th in U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 publication of America’s Best Hospitals, moving up from its 2007 ranking of 11th best hospital in the country. UWMC ties with Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for this year’s No. 10 spot.
The 2008 edition is accessible today online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and on sale at newsstands Monday, July 14.
UW Medical Center has been rated among the top U.S. hospitals since U.S. News began rankings in 1990. Of the 5,453 hospitals considered for this year's survey, just 170 scored high enough to be ranked in any specialty area. UW Medical Center was among only 19 hospitals ranked as part of the 2008 Honor Roll of hospitals, which demonstrated exceptional breadth of excellence and achieved high scores in six or more specialties.
Several programs at UWMC were ranked highly including: rehabilitation (2), (based at UWMC and Harborview Medical Center); cancer (6); gynecology (11); orthopedics (13); geriatrics (13); ear, nose and throat (13); respiratory disorders (16); kidney disease (16); gastrointestinal disorders (20); neurology/neurosurgery (22), (based at Harborview and UWMC); endocrinology (24); and urology (34). Harborview, which is owned by King County and operated by the University of Washington, ranked 27th in orthopedics.
For 12 of the 16 specialties ranked, U.S. News evaluated hospitals by weighing three elements equally: reputation, death rate, and a set of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. In the other four specialties —ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology—rankings were based solely on a reputational survey of physicians.
The complete U.S. News Honor Roll of the nation's best 19 hospitals listed in rank order are:
1. Johns Hopkins Hospital
2. Mayo Clinic
3. 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 and Duke University Medical Center
9. (Note: There is no 9th spot due to the tie above).
10. University of Washington Medical Center and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
11. (Note: There is no 11th spot due to the tie above).
12. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University
13. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers
14. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
15. Vanderbilt University Medical Center
16. Stanford Hospital and Clinics
17. University of Chicago Medical Center
18. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
19. Yale-New Haven Hospital
For more information on the rankings, go to www.health.usnews.com/besthospitals