Massachusetts General Tops List of Best U.S. Hospitals
For the first time in more than 20 years, a new hospital has topped U.S. News & World Report’s annual Honor Roll of hospital rankings in the United States.
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, landed the top stop on the news magazine’s 2012-2013 Honor Roll of 17 hospitals. It beat out Johns Hopkins Hospital of Baltimore, MD, which placed second after being on top for 21 consecutive years. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN followed in third place.
U.S. News & World Report ranked 148 hospitals by specialties such as cancer treatments, cardiology, and neurosurgery. To make the Honor Roll, a hospital had to score near the top in at least six specialties.
“The rankings are based largely on objective measures of hospital performance, such as patient survival rates, and structural resources, such as nurse staffing levels,” U.S. News said in an article accompanying the release of the rankings. “Each hospital’s reputation, as determined by a survey of physician specialists, is also a factor in the ranking methodology.”
The president of Massachusetts General, which came in second on the Honor Roll last year, said it is “gratifying” to be number one.
“This recognition is a tribute to the more than 23,000 staff members at Massachusetts General who are dedicated to delivering the highest-quality care to patients and families,” Peter L. Slavin, MD, the facility’s president, wrote in an e-mail.
Indiana University Health in Indianapolis, IN, was ranked on the Honor Roll for the first time, coming in at number 16.
The magazine also ranked hospitals by region and specialty. Additionally, the magazine included a list of the “most connected” hospitals, noting which have done the best job in embracing electronic medical records (EMRs). Interestingly, U.S. News didn’t include EMRs in its consideration of the best hospitals overall.
“That’s because EMR usage, while booming, hasn’t been proven to consistently advance patient care,” the magazine said, while acknowledging “the scope of the digital shift afoot in medicine, and its potential to affect patients and their healthcare providers.”
The Mayo Clinic topped the list of “most connected” hospitals.
For more information on the U.S. News rankings, click here.
Posted: July 17, 2012