UCLA Medical Centers in Westwood, Santa Monica Tops in the State, Report Says

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, along with its sister campus in Santa Monica, was named again today the top hospital in the state and fifth best in the country in U.S. News & World Report's 25th annual rankings of medical facilities.

The 466-bed facility earned top national rankings in a variety of specialties, including third in geriatrics, fourth in urology, fifth in ophthalmology and eighth in nephrology, psychiatry and rheumatology.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center was ranked third in the state and tied for 12th nationally by the magazine. The hospital was ranged eighth in the nation in cardiology and heart surgery, seventh in orthopedics and sixth in gastroenterology and GI surgery.

Keck Medical Center of USC was ranked eighth in California while UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange was ranked ninth.

The top 10 hospitals in the Los Angeles area, according to the magazine, are:

1. UCLA Medical Center
2. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
3. Keck Medical Center
4. UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange
5. Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center
6. City of Hope in Duarte
7. Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
8. Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena
9. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach
10. Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center

U.S. News & World Report named the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. as the best in the country -- the first time the respected medical center has earned the top spot. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston ranked second, followed by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the Cleveland Clinic.

The magazine surveyed 5,000 medical facilities around the country and provided rankings in 16 specialties.

--City News Service