U.S. News and World Report’s 2018-19 “Best Hospitals” rankings were released on Tuesday. For the fifth consecutive year, the Ear, Nose and Throat program at UC Medical Center was ranked among the top 50 programs in the nation. UC Medical Center is the only hospital in Greater Cincinnati with a nationally ranked specialty.
“At UC Health, every day we relentlessly pursue our tripartite mission: to provide the highest standard of patient care, clinical research and medical education. Each and every member of our team is empowered to lead the way in achieving this mission, and I am proud that their efforts have again been recognized,” said Richard P. Lofgren, MD, UC Health president & CEO.
UC Medical Center was also ranked among the top 10 hospitals in Ohio and was named “high-performing” in the specialties of Cancer, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Nephrology, Orthopaedics, Pulmonology and Urology.
Among the publication’s ratings of common adult procedures and conditions, UC Medical Center was again named “high performing” for Heart Failure and West Chester Hospital was named “high performing” for Heart Failure and COPD.
The annual U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings, now in their 29th year, are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or for common elective procedures.
For the 2018-19 rankings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 medical centers nationwide in 25 specialties, procedures and conditions. In the 16 specialty areas, 158 hospitals were ranked in at least one specialty. In rankings by state and metro area, U.S. News recognized hospitals as high performing across multiple areas of care.
“For nearly 30 years, U.S. News has strived to make hospital quality more transparent to healthcare consumers nationwide,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “By providing the most comprehensive data available, we give patients and their physicians’ information to support their search for the best care across a range of specialties.”
The U.S. News Best Hospitals methodologies in most areas of care are based largely or entirely on objective measures such as risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety and quality of nursing, among other care-related indicators.