U.S. News & World Report names UCLA Medical Center among 2012 America's Best Hospitals

Jul 18 2012

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center ranks among the top five American hospitals, according to a U.S. News & World Report survey that reviewed patient-outcomes data, reputation among physicians and other care-related factors. The medical center also was rated the best hospital in the western United States for the 23rd consecutive year and the No. 1 hospital in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the state of California.

"Our purpose is to heal humankind, one patient at a time," said Dr. David Feinberg, president and CEO of the UCLA Health System and UCLA associate vice chancellor for health sciences. "Our team of dedicated doctors, nurses and staff has a steadfast commitment to ensure that every patient we see is treated like a member of our own family. What really motivates us is to make sure that every patient receives compassionate, safe medical care of the highest quality, delivered with dignity and respect."

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is also the only hospital in Los Angeles and the Southern California region that appears on the magazine's "Honor Roll." The latest rankings showcase more than 720 hospitals out of about 5,000 nationwide. Fewer than 150 of the 720 were nationally ranked in at least one of the survey's 16 medical specialties, and those like UCLA that made the honor roll were ranked at or near the top in at least six specialties.

The hospital rankings, said U.S. News' health rankings editor Avery Comarow, are like a GPS-type aid to help steer patients to hospitals with strong skills in the procedures and medical conditions that present the biggest challenges.

"All of these hospitals are the kinds of medical centers that should be on your list when you need the best care," Comarow said. "They are where other hospitals send the toughest cases."

The rankings are published by U.S. News, in collaboration with RTI International, a North Carolina-based research organization. Highlights of the 2012-13 rankings will appear in U.S. News' "Best Hospitals 2013" guidebook, which goes on sale in August.

The complete rankings and methodology are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.

"This honor confirms, once again, that the UCLA Health System is one of the premier health care providers in the nation," said Dr. A. Eugene Washington, UCLA vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We have worked diligently to transform ourselves, and today we not only provide the most sophisticated state-of-the art care but also rank among the very best academic medical centers in the nation on patient-satisfaction scores. I commend and congratulate each member of our UCLA Health System team for putting patients first and helping us earn this distinction."

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was rated one of the top five hospitals in the nation, along with, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which ranked first; Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which was second; the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which was third; and the Cleveland Clinic, which was fourth.

The "Best Hospitals" honor roll highlights the medical centers that were ranked at or near the top in at least six specialties. Nationally, UCLA ranked in the top 20 in 14 of the 16 specialty areas. In each of the following specialties, UCLA's national rankings are indicated: cancer at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (9); cardiology and heart surgery (8); diabetes and endocrinology (13); ear, nose and throat (12); gastroenterology (8); geriatrics (3); gynecology (12); kidney disorders/nephrology (5); neurology and neurosurgery (12); ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute (5); psychiatry at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (7); pulmonology (25); rheumatology (7); and urology (4). UCLA also ranked as high-performing in orthopaedics.

In addition, the UCLA Health System's UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica was ranked No. 15 and designated as a high-performing hospital in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Source: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center