U.S. News and World Report’s newly released Best Hospitals edition again places Vanderbilt University Medical Center among the best in the nation, and shows that VUMC’s specialty programs continue to grow in national prominence.
In the 2013-14 edition of “America’s Best Hospitals,” VUMC had four specialties ranked among the top 10 in the nation, and equaled an all-time best with 11 out of a possible 16 specialty programs being ranked among the top 50 in their respective fields.
VUMC was also again lauded as both the No. 1 hospital in Tennessee and No. 1 in the Metro Nashville area in the magazine’s “Regional Recognitions” segment of its annual ranking.
“I want to congratulate our faculty and staff on these outstanding results. Each year, we look toward the U.S. News rankings as one of the important measures of not only our own year-to-year performance, but also as a benchmark to peer institutions,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System. “At a time when patient volumes across our health system have reached record levels and everyone is working harder than ever, that we have been able to improve upon last year’s measures in several key areas is remarkable.”
In a feature article within the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Guidebook, titled “The Personalization of Medicine,” VUMC and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center are recognized as one of the nation’s leaders in personalized cancer medicine. To see the article, go to http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2013/07/12/the-personalization-of-medicine.
“These rankings are based not only on reputational scores — how leaders at other academic medical centers and hospitals across the nation perceive Vanderbilt — but also on measurable outcomes addressing patient safety and the quality of our services,” said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor for Health Affairs and dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “We should derive great satisfaction from the achievement that four of our specialties are now ranked among the nation’s top 10, while our adult hospitals, clinics and other ranked specialties continue to remain among the nation’s finest.
“I want to express my appreciation to everyone for their contributions toward this year’s rankings,” Balser said.
In the report released Tuesday, July 16, the following VUMC specialty programs ranked among the top 50 in their respective fields:
• Cancer (28)
• Cardiology and Heart Surgery (34)
• Ear, Nose and Throat (8)
• Gastroenterology (24)
• Geriatrics (43)
• Gynecology (24)
• Nephrology (10)
• Neurology and Neurosurgery (34)
• Orthopaedics (43)
• Pulmonology (9)
• Urology (6)
The Medical Center’s program in Diabetes and Endocrinology also received recognition as “High Performing,” a distinction for top regional programs.
Of the 4,806 hospitals evaluated by U.S. News, only 147 performed well enough to have even one specialty program ranked among the nation’s best. To be eligible, hospitals must either be a teaching hospital, be affiliated with a medical school, have at least 200 beds or at least 100 beds plus certain medical technologies. This year 46 percent of all hospitals in the nation met the criteria.
RTI International, based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., compiled all data and produced the rankings for U.S. News. The “America’s Best Hospitals” 2013-14 is accessible online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and is scheduled to hit newsstands Aug. 27.
In a separate ranking released last month, the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt was named by U.S. News as among the best in the nation, with nine of 10 pediatric specialty programs ranked. Children’s Hospital programs ranked this year include: Cancer (36), Cardiology and Heart Surgery (23), Diabetes and Endocrinology (29), Gastroenterology (32), Neonatology (16), Neurology and Neurosurgery (43), Orthopaedics (34), Pulmonology (19) and Urology (4).
