U.S. News Best Hospitals 2010-11
Best Hospitals 2010-11 includes rankings of 152 medical centers nationwide in 16 specialties, including cancer, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose, and throat, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, heart and heart surgery, kidney disorders, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, rehabilitation, rheumatology and urology.
When UPMC Hamot is compared to other hospitals of its size in the tri-state area it has consistently risen to the top of the leaderboard. In addition the Top 50 designation for Pulmonary Medicine, U.S. News & World Report also ranked UPMC Hamot higher than any other hospital in the region in 12 out of 12 categories. There is simply no comparison.
| UPMC Hamot | St. Vincent Health Center | DuBois Regional Medical Center | Meadville Medical Center | Geisinger Medical Center | Kaleida (Buffalo General Hospital) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancer | 17.1 | 14.1 | - | - | 16.6 | 12.4 |
| Diabetes & Endocrinology | 33.5 | 31.8 | - | - | 29.8* | 25 |
| Gastroenterology | 28 | 20.7 | 8.1 | 8.4 | 20 | 20.1 |
| Ear, Nose & Throat | 34.1 | 32.7 | 22.8 | - | 31.2 | 28.2 |
| Geriatrics | 27.5 | 22.5 | - | 8.7 | 18.6 | 22.7 |
| Gynecology | 36.2 | 32.9 | 21.3 | 24.2 | 39 | 38.3 |
| Heart & Heart Surgery | 28.4 | 21.2 | - | - | 19.7 | 16.5 |
| Kidney Disorders | 26.9 | 19.9 | 7.4 | 16.2 | 27.9* | 25 |
| Neurology & Neurosurgery | 27.4 | 18.4 | 13 | - | 15.1 | 24.5 |
| Orthopedics | 22.4 | 15.3 | 10.8 | 14.2 | 22.8* | 16.3 |
| Pulmonology | 33 | 22.3 | 11.6 | 16.7 | 21.4 | 16.8 |
| Urology | 28.8 | 22.7 | 9.9 | - | 29* | 20.4 |
Numbers represent the U.S. News Hospital Score out of a possible 100 points for each specialty. Where no number exists, the facility did not meet minimum patient volume requirements to be eligible for scoring.
Score is determined based on:
Reputation (32.5 percent).
Each year, 200 physicians per specialty are randomly selected and asked to list five hospitals they consider to be the best in their specialty for complex or difficult cases. The figure shown in the rankings is the total percentage of specialists in 2008, 2009, and 2010 who named the hospital. Hospitals who receive a ranking of -0- for reputation earned even higher scores in the other categories, including; mortality, patient safety, technologies, and nurse staffing ratios.
Mortality index (32.5 percent).
A hospital's success at keeping patients alive was judged by comparing the number of Medicare inpatients with certain conditions who died within 30 days of admission in 2006, 2007, and 2008 with the number expected given the severity of their illness. An index number above 1.00 means the hospital did worse than expected and below 1.00 better than expected. Software used by many hospitals and researchers (3M Health Information Systems MS-DRG Grouper) made the severity adjustments.
Patient safety index (5 percent).
Medical errors that harm or kill patients happen even at the most respected hospitals. Two of the seven items in the patient safety index, for example, reflect deaths of patients whose conditions did not put them at significant risk and incisions that reopen. This number reflects how well a hospital succeeds in keeping the number of medical errors and mishaps to a minimum.
Other care factors (30 percent).
These include nurse staffing, technology, and other measures related to quality of care. The major source of the information was the American Hospital Association's 2008 survey of all hospitals in the nation.
*Note: Geisinger earned modest (less than 1%) reputation rankings in these specialties. UPMC Hamot's reputation score is -0- for all specialties.
Neither Millcreek Community Hospital or Corry Memorial Hospital qualified for the study.
