Vanderbilt University Medical Center has once again been named among the nation’s elite providers of specialty care by U.S. News and World Report magazine, and has also again been named the No. 1 hospital in the Metro Nashville area and the No. 1 hospital in Tennessee.
In the newly released 2014-15 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 magazine’s “Regional Recognitions” segment, VUMC was named the No. 1 hospital in both the Metro Nashville area and the state for the third straight year. VUMC has topped this portion of the U.S. News rankings since it was introduced in 2012.
“This acknowledgment from U.S. News and World Report, along with other designations we receive, serves to remind us of the impact we are having on the lives of the patients and families we serve,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System. “Every day, I am proud of the outstanding accomplishments of our faculty and staff and want to thank you for keeping VUMC No. 1 in Tennessee.”
U.S. News evaluated 4,743 hospitals across the country, and only 144 performed well enough to have even a single specialty program ranked as being among the best in the nation. To be eligible, hospitals must either be a teaching hospital, be affiliated with a medical school, and have at least 200 beds or at least 100 beds plus certain medical technologies.
In the report released Tuesday, July 15, the following VUMC specialty programs were nationally ranked: Cancer; Ear, Nose and Throat; Nephrology; Neurology and Neurosurgery; Pulmonology; and Urology. High performing specialty programs were: Cardiology and Heart Surgery; Diabetes and Endocrinology; Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Gynecology; and Orthopaedics.
“We are pleased that Vanderbilt Nephrology has once again been recognized as a national leader in treating patients with kidney disease. We are fortunate to have an outstanding faculty and staff who always strive to provide the best possible care to our patients,” said Raymond Harris, M.D., the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Professor of Nephrology and director of the division.
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 rankings are accessible online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and the publication’s print edition is scheduled to hit newsstands in August.
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 children’s hospitals in the nation, with nine of 10 pediatric specialty programs ranked. Children’s Hospital programs ranked this year include: Cancer; Cardiology and Heart Surgery; Diabetes and Endocrinology; Gastroenterology; Neonatology; Neurology and Neurosurgery; Pulmonology; and Urology.
