New Ranking Of N.J.'s Best Hospitals Released By U.S. News And World Report

U.S. News and World Report released its annual rankings of the best hospitals in the country for 2017-18, and 24 New Jersey hospitals made the publication's best-in-the-state list.

The publication ranked more than 4,500 medical centers in the U.S. in 25 specialties, procedures and conditions. The rankings also looked at the best hospitals in every state and 20 hospitals made it to the honor roll, a distinction given to hospitals that deliver exceptional treatment across multiple specialties.

U.S. News ranked 152 hospitals nationally in at least one specialty and 535 hospitals were recognized as best regional hospitals for those seeking care close to home.

In New Jersey, Hackensack University Medical Center ranked as the number one hospital in the state and was ranked across three specialties (neurology and neurosurgery, urology and orthopedics) and one children's specialty (pediatric neurology and neurosurgery).

Morristown Medical Center was ranked in two adult specialities (cardiology-heart surgery and orthopedics) and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital was ranked in one children's specialty (pediatric urology). Others were recognized as well.

“These distinctions are a reflection of Valley’s commitment to providing excellent clinical care and service,” said Audrey Meyers, president and CEO of The Valley Hospital and Valley Health System.

According to the rankings, the best hospitals in New Jersey are:

• Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack (#1 in New Jersey)
• Morristown Medical Center, Morristown (#2)
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick (#3)
• Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune (#4)
• AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, Atlantic City (tie #5)
• Valley Hospital, Ridgewood (tie #5)
• Virtua Voorhees, Voorhees (#7)
• Ocean Medical Center, Brick (tie #8)
• Overlook Medical Center, Summit (tie #8)
• Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank (tie #8)
• Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, Somerville (tie #8)
• University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, Plainsboro (tie #8)
• Capital Health Medical Center-Hopewell, Pennington (tie #13)
• Capital Health Regional Medical Center, Trenton (tie #13)
• Community Medical Center, Toms River (tie #13)
• Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood (tie #13)
• Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington (tie #13)
• Inspira Medical Center-Elmer, Elmer (tie #13)
• Inspira Medical Center-Vineland, Vineland (tie #13)
• Kennedy Health System-Cherry Hill, Stratford (tie #13)
• St. Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston (tie #13)
• St. Joseph's Healthcare System-Paterson, Paterson (tie #13)
• St. Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick (tie #13)
• Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck (24)

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota topped the honor roll for the second consecutive year. The hospital was ranked across 15 specialties and ranked in the top five for 13 of the specialties. Cleveland Clinic was ranked number two and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore climbed up the rankings one spot this year to number three on the honor roll.

The methodology used by U.S. News is based largely on objective measures with more than 70 percent of the rankings relying on such data. The rankings also took into account survey answers from more than 125,000 physicians across the country about reputation. U.S. News also looked at five years of Medicare data and the number of patients treated in hospitals. The methodology was also updated to avoid penalizing hospitals for treating low-income patients or for accepting high-risk cases transferred from other hospitals. For the best regional hospitals, procedures and conditions rankings were emphasized more than specialty rankings.

The hospitals on U.S. News’ honor roll are:

• Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
• Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland
• Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
• Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
• University of Michigan Hospital and Health Centers, Ann Arbor
• Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
• New-York Presbyterian Hospital, New York
• Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California
• Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
• Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
• UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Pittsburgh
• University of Colorado Hospital, Aurora
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Philadelphia
• Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
• Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
• NYU Langone Medical Center, New York
• Mayo Clinic Phoenix, Phoenix

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

Flickr photo by doc.alyv