HUP ranks high in 'U.S. News' listings

Changes in leadership and continued financial troubles did not stop the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania from maintaining its rank as the 10th best hospital nationwide in the U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking of medical institutions. For the second consecutive year, HUP was the only school from the Delaware Valley recognized in the report, which ranks the best of 6,247 medical institutions in the magazine's 11th annual edition of America's Best Hospitals. The three top-ranking schools -- Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Mayo Clinic of Rochester, Minn., and Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital -- held steady. Each hospital is ranked in 13 medical specialties on three equal parts -- reputation, mortality rate and a group of factors such as technology and nursing care. HUP's high ranking was a testament to the quality of care it continued to provide despite severe financial constraints, according to John Detre, a Neurology professor and clinical practitioner at the hospital. "It just highlights the discrepancy between the practice of academic medicine and the delivery of high-quality medical care and what society is willing to pay for it," Detre said. HUP was also recognized for its performance in all 13 medical specialities. The Neurology and Neurosurgery speciality was the highest-ranked department at Penn, coming in seventh nationwide. The department's ranking came as no surprise to HUP faculty. Neurology Department Chair Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano said that the ranking was not unexpected given the strength of the speciality at Penn. "This is a great department, always has been," he said. "We were No. 10 last year, so it's not a surprise." Detre added that a "great environment of colleagues" and "active research" also probably contributed to the high rating of the Neurology and Neurosurgery Department. The fields of cancer, digestive disorders, gynecology, hormonal disorders, respiratory disorders, urology and ear, nose and throat medicine at HUP also received high regards in the magazine.

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