July 28, 2021
U.S. News & World Report has published its 2021-22 Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, the magazine announced on Tuesday, July 27, in a press release.
In the latest edition, seven new Procedures and Conditions ratings have been added, diversifying the portfolio to 17 services in all. The new ratings – covering Heart Attack, Stroke, Pneumonia, Diabetes, Kidney Failure, Hip Fracture and Back Surgery (Spinal Fusion) – emphasize the importance of targeted research and care that provides patients and their doctors with data-driven decision support.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, claimed the No. 1 spot on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Cleveland Clinic ranked No. 2, followed by UCLA Medical Center at No. 3. The Honor Roll is a distinction awarded to hospitals ranked in the top 20 nationally for delivering exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care.
The full list of the top 20 hospitals nationwide is as follows:
- Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
- Cleveland Clinic
- UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
- Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
- New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, New York
- NYU Langone Hospitals, New York City
- UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
- University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor
- Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, California
- Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
- Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
- Mayo Clinic-Phoenix
- Houston Methodist Hospital
- Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis (Tie)
- Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (Tie)
- Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
“This year’s expanded report from U.S. News includes new ratings for important procedures and conditions to help patients, in consultation with their doctors, narrow down their choice of hospital based on the specific type of care they need,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis.
U.S. News also investigated racial disparities in health care and this year debuted health equity measures alongside the hospital rankings. Among other aspects of health equity, the new measures examine whether the patients each hospital has treated reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the surrounding community.
“At roughly four out of five hospitals, we found that the community’s minority residents were underrepresented among patients receiving services such as joint replacement, cancer surgery and common heart procedures,” said Harder. “Against this backdrop, however, we found important exceptions – hospitals that provide care to a disproportionate share of their community’s minority residents. These metrics are just a beginning; we aim to expand on our measurement of health equity in the future.”
U.S. News released new rankings for 15 medical specialties, which cover Cancer; Cardiology & Heart Surgery; Diabetes & Endocrinology; Ear, Nose & Throat; Gastroenterology & GI Surgery; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Neurology & Neurosurgery; Ophthalmology; Orthopedics; Psychiatry; Pulmonology & Lung Surgery; Rehabilitation; Rheumatology; and Urology. Out of more than 4,750 hospitals that were evaluated, 175 were nationally ranked in at least one specialty, while 531 were ranked among the Best Regional Hospitals in a state or metro area.
In the specialty rankings, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center ranked No. 1 in Cancer; the Cleveland Clinic is No. 1 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City is No. 1 in Orthopedics. Full listing are available on the website.
Research contact: @USNews
