During the past year, Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) placed highly in several of the various rankings conducted by U.S. News and World Report.
• In the magazine’s 2015-2016 edition of “America’s Best Hospitals,” VUMC had 12 out of a possible 16 specialties either nationally ranked or designated as nationally high performing.
The Medical Center’s top showing in U.S. News’ “Regional Recognitions” marked the fourth year in a row VUMC has been named No. 1 in both the Nashville Metro area and Tennessee. VUMC has been ranked No. 1 in this category since it was introduced in 2012.
The following VUMC specialty programs were nationally ranked by U.S. News in this year’s edition: Cancer (33); Cardiology and Heart Surgery (34); Diabetes and Endocrinology (32); Ear, Nose and Throat (16); Nephrology (8); Neurology and Neurosurgery (31); Pulmonology (16); and Urology (7).
High-performing specialty programs were: Gastroenterology and GI Surgery; Geriatrics; Gynecology; and Orthopaedics.
• In U.S. News’ “Best Graduate Schools” rankings, the School of Medicine moved up one spot this year to No. 14 among the country’s top programs, while the School of Nursing moved up four spots to No. 11. To determine scores, U.S. News uses a ranking methodology for Schools of Medicine-Research, which arrives at a weighted average across eight indicators.
• The 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 Urology program maintained its rank in the No. 6 spot. Five pediatric specialties moved up in the rankings. Neurology & Neurosurgery improved from 42nd to 15th; Pulmonology went from 25th to 15th; Neonatology jumped from 45th to 27th; Gastroenterology & GI Surgery moved from 40th to 32nd; and Diabetes & Endocrinology improved from 31st to 25th. Other specialties ranked this year: Orthopaedics (12); Cancer (30); Cardiology & Heart Surgery (20); and Nephrology (42).
• VUMC achieved high marks on U.S. News’ newest rating for hospital quality.
The magazine’s first-ever “Best Hospitals for Common Care” ratings cover nearly every hospital in the nation and evaluate the performance of each one in the performance of three common surgical procedures — heart bypass, hip replacement and knee replacement — and two common chronic conditions — congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Hospitals were rated as high performing, average or below average. VUMC was rated as high performing for heart bypass, heart failure and COPD and average for knee replacement and hip replacement.
• According to annual figures available through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the School of Medicine is ranked 10th in the nation among U.S. medical schools in total grant support provided through the nation’s medical research agency, receiving $293,981, 233 during calendar year 2014.
• VUMC was again named among the “100 Great Hospitals in America” by Becker’s Hospital Review and is the only health facility in Tennessee to make the list.
• Vanderbilt University Hospital garnered spring and fall patient safety grades 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.
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.
