Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has been named to U.S. News & World Report’s 2021-2022 Honor Roll of America’s Best Hospitals in the publication’s annual rankings of health care facilities. VUMC is the only health system in the Southeast to be named to this year’s Honor Roll.
For the past 32 years, U.S. News has used structural measures and peer reputational scores to rank hospitals. This year, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,750 hospitals, and only 175 were nationally ranked in one medical specialty or more. For the 2021-2022 rankings only 20 hospitals earned Honor Roll status.
In addition to inclusion in the Honor Roll, VUMC was named the No. 1 hospital in Tennessee and No. 1 in the Metro Nashville area and achieved nine, data-driven nationally ranked specialties: Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Geriatrics, Gynecology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Pulmonary & Lung Surgery and Urology.
“The outcome of this year’s rankings demonstrates focus and commitment from every member of our organization to deliver the very best care to our patients each day. I’m proud of these results and want to express my deep appreciation to our physicians, nurses and staff for contributing to this success,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer for VUMC.
VUMC’s specialties in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Orthopaedics, Psychiatry and Rheumatology were ranked as “high performing.” This year, due to a change in U.S. News’ methodology, the specialty of Nephrology was removed as a nationally ranked specialty for all hospitals.
Also, this year VUMC was ranked as high performing in 16 out of 17 possible adult procedures and conditions, which is a measure intended by U.S. News to show consumers how well their local hospitals stand up to close scrutiny in six common procedures and conditions and in 11 others they now rate.
Adult procedures and conditions where VUMC scored as high performing include: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic valve surgery, back surgery (spinal fusion), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer surgery, diabetes, heart attack, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, hip replacement, kidney failure, knee replacement, lung cancer surgery, pneumonia, stroke, and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).
“VUMC’s continued commitment to high quality, safe and reliable care is the foundation of this recognition. From highly complex care to routine care, we are improving our outcomes for our patients and families. The acknowledgement from U.S. New and World Report is one all of our VUMC family should celebrate,” said Jenny Slayton, DNP, RN, Senior Vice President for Quality, Safety and Risk Prevention.
The U.S. News Best Hospitals methodologies are based largely on objective measures such as risk-adjusted survival and discharge-to-home rates, volume, and quality of nursing, among other care-related indicators, along with reputational scores voted on by peers practicing in a particular specialty.
Contributing to VUMC’s success in the Best Hospitals rankings was an oversight committee led by Ronald Alvarez, MD, MBA, Betty and Lonnie S. Burnett Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Dane Chetkovich, MD, PhD, Margaret and John Warner Chair for Neurological Education and chair of the Department of Neurology that is comprised of leaders from across the Medical Center. The committee was formed in 2017 to examine and help guide progress for a range of VUMC’s clinical performance outcomes.
“Our USNWR committee, composed of leaders from all disciplines, consider the USNWR Honor Roll ranking for VUMC a key achievement. What is even more important to the committee is our efforts to make the quality of the care provided at VUMC even better than it already is and to further optimize our health care experience of our patients,” said Alvarez.
Earlier this year, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, with 10 out of 10 possible nationally ranked children’s specialties, was recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the Best Children’s Hospital in Tennessee and the Southeast.
U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals ratings help patients begin their search for care and should be used in consultation with a medical professional. Data used in the 2021-22 Best Hospitals rankings and ratings come from a period predating the COVID-19 pandemic and were not affected by the pandemic’s impact on hospitals.
