New Pennsylvania Hospital Rankings Released By U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report released its annual rankings of the best hospitals in the country for 2017-18, assessing more than 4,500 medical centers in the U.S. in 25 specialties, procedures and conditions. The rankings looked at the best hospitals in every state, and 20 hospitals made it to the ranking's 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 Pennsylvania, Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian was ranked as the number one hospital in the state.

Three hospitals in the state made the ranking's honor roll: Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian in Philadelphia, UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside in Pittsburgh and Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Philadelphia.

According to U.S News: "The Best Hospitals Honor Roll takes both the specialty rankings and the procedure and condition ratings into account. Hospitals received points if they were nationally ranked in one of the 16 specialties – the more specialties and the higher their rank, the more points they got – and also if they were rated "high performing"in the nine procedures and conditions. The top 20 point-getters made up the Honor Roll, which has a maximum total of 480 points."

The methodology used by U.S. News to come up with the best in state rankings 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.

According to the rankings, the best hospitals in Pennsylvania are:

1 - Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian

2 - UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside

3 - Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals

4 - Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

5 - Lehigh Valley Hospital

6 - Lancaster General Hospital

7 - Lankenau Medical Center

8 - Reading Hospital

9 - Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital (tied for 9th)

9 - St. Luke's University Hospital-Bethlehem Campus (tied for 9th)

9 - UPMC Hamot (tied for 9th)

12 - Bryn Mawr Hospital (tied for 12th)

12 - PinnacleHealth Hospitals (tied for 12th)

14 - Pennsylvania Hospital

15 - Geisinger Medical Center (tied for 15th)

15 - Paoli Hospital (tied for 15th)

15 - Riddle Hospital (tied for 15th)

18 - Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health (tied for 18th)

18 - Allegheny General Hospital (tied for 18th)

18 - Hahnemann University Hospital (tied for 18th)

18 - Temple University Hospital (tied for 18th)

18 - UPMC St. Margaret (tied for 18th)

23- Doylestown Hospital (tied for 23rd)

23 - Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital (tied for 23rd)

23 - Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg (tied for 23rd)

23 - St. Mary Medical Center (tied for 23rd)

23 - WellSpan York Hospital (tied for 23rd)

Nationwide, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, topped the ranking's 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.

To compile the rankings, 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 20 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