July 24, 2008
UWMC ranks in top 10 of America’s best hospitals
UW Medical Center (UWMC) has ranked 10th in U.S. News &World Report’s 2008 publication of America’s Best Hospitals, moving up from its 2007 ranking of 11th best hospital in the country. UWMC ties with the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia for this year’s No. 10 spot.
UW Medical Center has been rated among the top U.S. hospitals since U.S. News began rankings in 1990. Of the 5,453 hospitals considered for this year’s survey, just 170 scored high enough to be ranked in any specialty area. UW Medical Center was among only 19 hospitals ranked as part of the 2008 Honor Roll of hospitals, which demonstrated exceptional breadth of excellence and achieved high scores in six or more specialties.
Several programs at UWMC were ranked highly including: rehabilitation, based at UWMC and Harborview Medical Center (2); cancer (6); gynecology (11); orthopedics (13); geriatrics, based at Harborview (13); ear, nose and throat (13); respiratory disorders (16); kidney disease (16); gastrointestinal disorders (20); neurology/ neurosurgery based at Harborview (22); and UWMC endocrinology (24); and urology (34). Harborview, which is owned by King County and operated by the UW, ranked 27th in orthopedics.
For 12 of the 16 specialties ranked, U.S. News evaluated hospitals by weighing three elements equally: reputation, death rate, and a set of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. In the other four specialties — ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology — rankings were based solely on a reputational survey of physicians.
The 2008 edition is online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and on sale at newsstands.
