Tag Archives: best geriatric department

Best Hospitals 2013-14: U.S. News & World Report

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The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been named one of the nation’s top medical schools by U.S. News and World Report

Above taken from Johns Hopkins’ Website
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Aging Parents, Best Hospitals, 16 Specialties

U.S. News’ “Best Hospitals” issue came out mid-July, and no doubt hit the news stands the day I left for Arizona and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There’s neither Wi Fi nor cell service unless you drive from the Rim to-I believe–the Ranger Office (“a building near the gas station,” I was told).  So I’m playing “Catch-up” today.

Help! Aging Parents continues a tradition begun in 2010 with the “Best Hospitals 2013-14: Overview and Honor Roll.” Once again Johns Hopkins is #1 in the US, including #1 Geriatrics Department.

CBS News reported on the Best Hospitals issue. The video has excellent patient information that goes beyond the text about hospital rankings. Rankings, magazine text, and my text follow.

From the Hopkins’ website: Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital reclaimed the No. 1 spot after last year losing a 21-year reign to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. In order of rank, the Honor Roll hospitals are:

Rank Hospital Points Specialties
1 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore 30 15
2 Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 29 16
3 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. 29 15
4 Cleveland Clinic 27 14
5 UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles 19 13
6 Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago 17 12
7 New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, N.Y. 17 10
7 UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco 17 10
9 Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston 16 10
10 UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center 15 10
11 Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 12 11
12 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. 12 9
13 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles 12 8
14 NYU Langone Medical Center, New York 11 8
15 Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis 10 9
16 IU Health Academic Health Center, Indianapolis 7 7
17 Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia 7 6
18 University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland 6 6

In most specialties, U.S. News ranks the top 50 hospitals nationwide. This year, 147 different hospitals earned a ranking in at least one specialty. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, for example, ranked first in Cancer. The Cleveland Clinic topped the Cardiology & Heart Surgery rankings. And the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, N.Y., snagged No. 1 in Orthopedics. Hospitals that ranked nationally in any specialty have the skill and experience to treat the most complex and demanding cases that can arise in that area of medicine.

Some patients might be unable to travel far for care — or may not need to because their condition is more straight-forward. To help them find care close to home, U.S. News ranks more than 700 hospitals by state, region and metro area. These Best Regional Hospitals are highly proficient in serving the needs of the majority of patients in at least one specialty. I especially like this paragraph and the link. So often, in emergency situations, we don’t have time to research where to go; sometimes we can’t go far; and for the more “garden variety” problems a nationally ranked hospital may not be necessary.

That said, click this link http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals to research a particular medical specialty and find the best hospitals with that specialty. For example, Mt. Sinai, which had the #1 Geriatrics rating in 2010 and 2011, was #2 in 2012, and is #4 for 2013-14. The top 10 Geriatrics Departments:

  1. Johns Hopkins
  2. Mayo Clinic (Rochester)
  3. UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles)
  4. Mt. Sinai Medical Center (NY)
  5. Hospital for Special Surgery (NY)
  6. Massachusetts General (Boston)
  7. Cleveland Clinic
  8. UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco)
  9. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
  10. NYU Langone Medical Center (NY)

The US News & World Report “Best Hospitals” issue is always an excellent resource. I’ve copied from the website (italicized above) and added links and my text, with the goal of helping parents age well.