Adventist Hospital Listed among Top Nationwide by U.S. News & World Report Survey
By Jiggs Gallagher, August 3, 2016: U.S. News & World Report ranks more than 4,500 hospitals in the United States each year in various categories, including dominance in the institution’s local area, national recognition for specialty areas and success in treating certain conditions, including surgery. This year the top 43 hospitals in the country that rated as “high performing” in nine specific surgical procedures and treatment types, included one Adventist medical center: Florida Hospital in Orlando, which was rated high-performing in all nine categories.
The leading hospitals nationwide in this year’s ranking were: (1) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota; (2) Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio; and (3) Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Loma Linda University Medical Center, the flagship Seventh-day Adventist university hospital in Southern California, was rated overall Number 2 in its region, the Riverside-San Bernardino or “Inland Empire” area. It lost the Number 1 spot to Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, some 60 miles to the east of Loma Linda.
Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLU) was rated as higher than average performance in four treatment areas, according to Briana Pastorino, media relations representative: urology, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer surgery and heart failure. LLU was also ranked 37 in the State of California, where there is stiff competition from such institutions as the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Other prominent Adventist institutions receiving high performance marks in some of the nine areas were Kettering Medical Center in Dayton, Ohio (six of nine areas); Hinsdale Hospital in the suburbs of Chicago (five of nine); Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Kansas City (five of nine); and Glendale Adventist Medical Center in a suburb of Los Angeles (four of nine). None of those Adventist hospitals was considered to score high enough to be “nationally ranked” in any of the treatment categories.
Hospital administrators are traditionally touchy about such rankings, often explaining that circumstances out of their control affect the outcomes. Such issues as location in high retirement areas which result in more aged patients with more serious health issues, are often mentioned.
Jiggs Gallagher is a senior editor in the news section of Adventist Today. The featured photograph is of Florida Hospital in downtown Orlando.
