July 17, 2003
UW Medical Center joins top 10 among nation’s Best Hospitals
University of Washington Medical Center has achieved a top 10 ranking among the premier hospitals in the country, according to U.S.News & World Report’s 2003 annual guide to “America’s Best Hospitals,” which will be updated in its July 28 issue, available July 21.
UW Medical Center was ranked 10th in the nation among the 2,072 major medical centers considered in this year’s survey. It is the only hospital west of Rochester, Minn., and north of San Francisco to achieve an “honor roll” ranking. Last year, UWMC was ranked 11th. UW Medical Center has been consistently ranked among the top hospitals nationally by U.S. News since 1993.
In specialty rankings, UW Medical Center ranked among the top 20 programs nationwide in rehabilitation (3rd); orthopaedics (10th); geriatrics (11th); hormone disorders (11th); respiratory disorders (13th); ear, nose and throat (14th); cancer (15th) and kidney disease (16th). It received rankings in the top 30 in several additional specialties: digestive disorders (21st); rheumatology (21st), gynecology (27th) and psychiatry (27th).
Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, which is closely affiliated with the UW School of Medicine, ranked 15th in pediatrics.
Harborview Medical Center, which is owned by King County and operated by the University of Washington, ranked 9th in orthopaedics.
“We are delighted to have University of Washington Medical Center honored as one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation,” said Kathleen Sellick, UWMC executive director. “I am very proud of our faculty, nurses and staff and the way they are making a difference every day for our patients.”
“All of us at UWMC are dedicated to our central missions of patient care, teaching and research,” said Dr. Ed Walker, UWMC medical director. “This national recognition attests to the exceptional commitment to high-quality care, and outstanding professionalism and skill that exists at UWMC.”
For 13 of the 17 specialties ranked, U.S. News, in conjunction with the National Opinion Research Center, evaluated hospitals using a mathematical model combining reputation among board-certified specialists, death rate statistics, and other medical data such as the various medical technologies available.
In the other four specialties — ophthalmology, pediatrics, psychiatry and rehabilitation — rankings were based on a reputational survey of physicians.
Besides UW Medical Center, U.S. News’ Honor Roll of the nation’s best hospitals includes Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic, UCLA Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Duke University Medical Center, University of California San Francisco Medical Center, University of Michigan Medical Center, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago Hospitals, Stanford University Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinic in Nashville.
For more information on the rankings, go to www.usnews.com
UW Medical Center is part of UW Medicine, which also includes the School of Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, UW Physicians, UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics, and the UW’s membership in the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Children’s University Medical Group. UW Medicine has major academic and service affiliations with the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the Veteran’s Administration Medical Centers in Seattle and Boise. Consistently among the top five recipients of federal funding for biomedical research, the School of Medicine has among its 1,600 regular faculty four Nobel Laureates, 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, and 26 members of the Institute of Medicine.
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