HUP ranked among nation's best hospitals

U.S. News and World Report last week ranked the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania the 10th best hospital in the nation, marking the third consecutive year that the weekly news magazine has named HUP to the "Honor Roll" in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" issue. HUP's 10th place ranking is a slight increase from its 11th place finish last year. The hospital was also the lone representative of the Delaware Valley region included in the "Honor Roll," which lists the nation's 13 best hospitals. The top three spots were once again occupied by Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston respectively. The Cleveland Clinic jumped two notches to No. 4, and Duke University Medical Center rounded out the top five. "HUP's citation -- as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation -- is a tribute to our dedicated faculty and staff and to our on-going commitment to provide easy access to high quality care and service," Medical School Dean and Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley said in a statement released Friday. To make the magazine's "Honor Roll," a hospital must exhibit "unusual competence" by earning high rankings in at least six of 16 specialities used in tabulating the results. U.S. News honored HUP for its performance in 11 of those categories. HUP's highest placement came at No. 8 for its treatment of pulmonary disease. The hospital ranked ninth in otorhinolaryngology and finished 10th in the specialties of gynecology, and neurology and neurosurgery. HUP also received high marks in the fields of cancer, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, orthopedics, rheumatology and urology. Neil Freedman, a Medical School assistant professor of pulmonary medicine and attending physician at HUP specializing in pulmonary medicine, said he expects his division's high ranking to "create more referrals from around the city" and "generate more business." ""I'm thrilled that we're ranked so high," Freedman said. HUP Chief Medical Officer David Shulkin said the accomplishment is made more noteworthy by the fact that the hospital has never before cracked the top 10 barrier. U.S. News ranked the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia second in pediatrics for the third consecutive year, finishing again behind Boston's Children's Hospital. Another Philadelphia area hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, garnered high marks in 12 specialties but did not make the "Honor Roll." The Fox Chase Cancer Center, Temple University Hospital, the Wills Eye Hospital, the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital and the Albert Einstein Medical Center were also recognized. The rankings are listed in the magazine's July 12 issue, which is available on newsstands this week. U.S. News compiled its listings through a series of surveys sent to 2,400 board-certified physicians, chosen at random from the magazine's database. U.S. News, which first published the rankings of hospitals in 1990, then compiled its rankings by using an index based on the hospitals' reputations, their mortality rates, and other such medical information obtained from annual surveys conducted by the American Hospital Association. Such studies have, however, frequently been subject to criticism. Some, like the medical journal Health Journal, have criticized certain hospital rankings for valuing hospitals' financial stability over their standards of patient care, while others have accused the rankings of being based more on reputation than on quality.

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