UAB Hospital Among "America's Best" In Latest U.S. News & World Report Rankings

Seven UAB Hospital specialty programs are among the nation’s top 50 — four are in the top 25 — of the 16 categories evaluated at America’s 5,189 hospitals this year by U.S. News & World Report. The rankings appear in the magazine’s 17th annual “America’s Best Hospitals” issue, released July 7.

With its seven ranked programs, UAB Hospital was one of only 176 hospitals, or about 3% of U.S. institutions studied —and the only hospital in Alabama or Mississippi — to rank high enough in even one specialty to make the magazine’s national “Best Hospital’s” list.

Highlights for UAB Hospital this year include:

• The UAB Hospital rheumatology program ranked sixth nationally for an unprecedented 15th consecutive year, topping seventh-place UCLA Medical Center.
• In heart and heart surgery. UAB Hospital ranked 14th, ranking for the 11th consecutive year and ahead of 15th-place Emory University Hospital.
• The gynecology program at UAB Hospital ranked 14th, ahead of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (16), University of North Carolina Hospitals (17) among others.
• In kidney disease, UAB Hospital ranked 17th, with the University of Maryland Medical Center 18th.
• UAB Hospital’s cancer program was 23rd, topping New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell.
• In orthopedics, UAB Hospital was 47th in the survey; and for respiratory disorders, 48th.

According to the magazine’s published methodology, a hospital's overall performance is summed up by its U.S. News Score. It is made up of three equal parts: reputation, mortality and a mix of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The 50 hospitals in each specialty with the highest scores are listed.

“Good hospital care probably is around the corner, if all you need is a routine procedure—sometimes even major surgery,” the magazine writes. “But a difficult condition or a complex operation demands a higher standard of care, especially if the risk is compounded by advanced age, frailty, obesity or some other complication.

“That describes the patients U.S. News set out to help, starting in 1990, with “America’s Best Hospitals.” The mission, unchanged over 17 years, has been to identify centers that take on and excel at tough procedures and conditions—rare cancers, worsening heart failure, seemingly untreatable leg-artery blockages. That is why most of the institutions ranked are referral centers, where the sickest patients are sent for advanced care. Such hospitals follow — and often pioneer — new treatment guidelines. They conduct bench-to-bedside research. And they exploit the latest advances in imaging, surgical devices, and other technologies.”

Media Contact:
L. G. Blanchard
(205) 934-3889
E-mail: lgb@uab.edu