Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) placed highly in several national rankings during the past year, including the various rankings conducted by U.S. News and World Report.
• In the magazine’s 2016-2017 edition of “America’s Best Hospitals,” VUMC had 12 out of a possible 16 specialties either nationally ranked or designated as nationally high performing.
In the “Regional Recognitions” portion of the rankings, VUMC was named the No.1 hospital in Tennessee and the Metro Nashville area for the fifth consecutive year, having topped these rankings since they were introduced in 2012.
The following VUMC specialty programs were nationally ranked by U.S. News in this year’s edition: Cancer (42); Cardiology and Heart Surgery (29); Diabetes and Endocrinology (42); Ear, Nose and Throat (23); Gynecology (18); Nephrology (8); Neurology and Neurosurgery (43); Pulmonology (42); and Urology (8).
High-performing specialty programs were: Gastroenterology and GI Surgery; Geriatrics; and Orthopaedics.
• In U.S. News’ “Best Graduate Schools rankings, the School of Medicine ranked No. 15 among the nation’s elite programs and the School of Nursing ranked No. 13. To determine scores, U.S. News & World Report uses a ranking methodology for schools, which arrives at a weighted average across eight indicators.
• Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt was again named among the nation’s leaders in pediatric health care in U.S. News’ annual “Best Children’s Hospital” rankings.
Children’s Hospital achieved national rankings for a maximum of 10 out of 10 pediatric specialty programs, with half of those specialties among the top 20 in the country.
Children’s Hospital’s Division of Pediatric Urology has earned top accolades year after year, and ranked No. 4 this year. Among the other pediatric specialties, six others moved up in the rankings. Cancer improved from 30th to 18th; Gastroenterology & GI Surgery moved up from 32nd to 22nd; Nephrology improved from 42nd to 30th; Neurology & Neurosurgery moved from 15th to 12th; Cardiology & Heart Surgery went from 20th to 19th; and Neonatology moved up from 27th to 26th. Other specialties ranked this year: Orthopaedics (14); Pulmonology (17); Diabetes & Endocrinology (25).
• Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital (VUH) was awarded a spring 2016 patient safety grade of “A” from the Leapfrog Group, a coalition of public and private purchasers of employee health coverage that works to encourage health care safety, quality and affordability.
This was the ninth consecutive time VUH has received the group’s top grade.
Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Score uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital data to produce a single score representing a hospital’s overall capacity to keep patients safe from infections, injuries and medical errors.
• VUMC was named among the top 100 large employers in the nation by Forbes Magazine. On its 2016 list of America’s Best Employers, VUMC ranked No. 100.
• VUMC was again named among the “100 Great Hospitals in America” by Becker’s Hospital Review.
The Becker‘s editorial team selected hospitals based on rankings and awards from reputable sources, including U.S. News & World Report, Truven Health Analytics, Healthgrades, the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the Leapfrog Group, among other resources.
The final result is a list of 100 hospitals considered overall health care leaders in their region, state or the nation.
• VUMC’s heart transplant program ranked No. 2 nationwide in volume for its combined adult and pediatric procedures, according to the most recent data released by Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) in July.
The ranking put the program at No. 1 in the Southeast region for volume for the first six months of 2016. It is the second consecutive year the program garnered the top spot in the region on the rankings list.
In 2015, the program performed a record number of heart transplants — 65 — which ranked the Medical Center at No. 3 nationally for the combined adult and pediatric programs.
• VUMC was ranked the No. 1 hospital in the nation for patient safety in Trauma care by CareChex 2017 Hospital Quality Ratings Analysis.
The award is based on patient safety performance derived from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s patient safety indicators.
• Children’s Hospital was one of only nine children’s hospitals in the nation, and the only children’s hospital in Tennessee, to be named a Leapfrog Top Hospital for 2016. Among all hospital categories rated — general, children’s, rural and teaching — only 6 percent of eligible hospitals from across the U.S. earned the Top Hospital award from The Leapfrog Group this year.
