California's Best Hospitals: New Rankings Released By U.S. News

CALIFORNIA — U.S. News & World Report has released its rankings of the best hospitals in America for 2018-19, evaluating more than 4,500 hospitals in the country across 16 specialties and nine procedures and conditions. U.S. News also ranked the best hospitals in America by region.

In California, the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco was ranked as the state’s best hospital.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was named the country’s best hospital. It was tops on an “honor roll” list of 20 hospitals noted for delivering “exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care.” The Minnesota hospital was ranked in 15 specialties and rated as “high performing” in one specialty. U.S News explains that a “high performing” rating means a hospital was not nationally ranked but was significantly better than average in a specialty.

In all, 158 hospitals in the country ranked nationally in at least one specialty and more than 1,100 hospitals were rated as high performing in at least one common procedure or condition, according to U.S. News. A total of 29 hospitals were rated as “high performing” in all nine procedures and conditions. Hospitals were not ranked numerically for procedures and conditions. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news from your California neighborhood. Also, download the free Patch iPhone app or free Patch Android app. Also, be sure to follow your local Patch on Facebook!)

Among California’s 15 best hospitals, UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco is nationally ranked in 15 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties, and made the honor roll of best 20 hospitals; UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles is nationally ranked in 14 adult specialties and 8 pediatric specialties, and made the honor roll of best 20 hospitals; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is nationally ranked in 12 adult specialties and made the honor roll of best 20 hospitals; Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital in Stanford, CA is nationally ranked in 12 adult specialties and made the honor roll of best 20 hospitals; University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento is nationally ranked in 11 adult specialties and 5 pediatric specialties; Scripps La Jolla Hospitals in La Jolla is nationally ranked in 7 adult specialties; Keck Hospital of USC in Los Angeles is nationally ranked in 9 adult specialties; Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach is nationally ranked in 4 adult specialties; UC San Diego Health-Jacobs Medical Center in San Diego is nationally ranked in 6 adult specialties; Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena is nationally ranked in 2 adult specialties; UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange is nationally ranked in 2 adult specialties; Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo is nationally ranked in 2 adult specialties; John Muir Health-Walnut Creek Medical Center in Walnut Creek is nationally ranked in 1 adult specialty; MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach is nationally ranked in 1 adult specialty.

According to the ranking, here are the best hospitals in California:

UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco (1)

UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles (2)

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles (3)

Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital in Stanford (4)

University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento (5)

Scripps La Jolla Hospitals in La Jolla (6)

Keck Hospital of USC in Los Angeles (7)

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach (8)

UC San Diego Health-Jacobs Medical Center in San Diego (9)

Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena (10)

UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange (11)

John Muir Health-Concord Medical Center in Concord (12)

Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo (12)

John Muir Health-Walnut Creek Medical Center in Walnut Creek (14)

MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center in Long Beach (14)

The hospitals that made the 2018-19 national hospital honor roll are:

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (1)
Cleveland Clinic (2)
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (3)
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (4)
University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor (5)
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco (6)
UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles (7)
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles (8)
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, Calif. (9)
New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, N.Y. (10)
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis (11)
Mayo Clinic Phoenix (11)
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago (13)
Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia (14)
NYU Langone Hospitals, New York (15)
UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Pittsburgh (15)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn. (17)
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (18)
Duke University Hospital, Durham, N.C. (19)
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (20)

You can see the full rankings here.

U.S. News uses two methodologies, one for procedures and conditions ratings and another for specialty rankings. The rankings are produced by U.S. News with research organization, RTI International. U.S. News says its methodologies in most areas of care are based largely or entirely on objective measures like risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety and quality of nursing. (You can read more about the methodology here.) The specialties included in the rankings are:

• Cancer
• Cardiology and Heart Surgery
• Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Ear, Nose and Throat
• Gastroenterology and GI Surgery
• Geriatrics
• Gynecology
• Nephrology
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Ophthalmology
• Orthopedics
• Pulmonology
• Psychiatry
• Rehabilitation
• Rheumatology
• Urology

The procedures and conditions included in the rankings are:

• COPD
• Heart Bypass Surgery
• Heart Failure
• Hip Replacement
• Knee Replacement
• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
• Aortic Valve Surgery
• Colon Cancer Surgery
• Lung Cancer Surgery

- Patch Editors Feroze Dhanoa and Bea Karnes contributed to this article; Image by Shutterstock