The 2009–10 multiplatform "America's Best Hospitals" guide is the most extensive hospital ranking to date and can be found in U.S. News & World Report's special August edition. The rankings are currently available online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is also the only hospital in Los Angeles and the Southern California region that appears on the honor roll.
The magazine put 4,861 U.S. medical centers through an intensive screening process to create the 16 specialty rankings in the 2009–10 edition of the survey, which is now in its 20th year. Just 174 hospitals made it into the rankings, and only 21 entered the honor roll. The honor roll recognizes hospitals that demonstrate excellence across many specialties.
"This is a wonderful tribute to our entire health care team as we celebrate the one-year anniversary in our new hospital, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center," said Dr. David Feinberg, CEO and associate vice chancellor of the UCLA Hospital System. "It has truly been a momentous year, and we are grateful to our gifted and dedicated medical and support team throughout the UCLA Health who go the extra mile every day to save lives and deliver compassionate care to patients in our community and from around the world."
Hospitals are ranked in 16 specialties, from cancer and heart disease to neurosurgery and urology. In 12 of the 16 specialties, ranked hospitals must meet standards that are predominantly driven by hard data based on four components: reputation, death rate, patient safety (new this year) and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. In the four other specialties — ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology — rankings are based solely on nominations from the three most recent physician surveys.
"To once again be in the company of the nation's best hospitals, when rapid changes in health care constantly challenge our commitment to excellence, makes us extraordinarily proud of our dedicated physicians, scientists, nurses and staff throughout the UCLA Health," said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, UCLA vice chancellor for medical sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We congratulate each and every one of them for helping UCLA once again earn this well-deserved distinction."
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center was rated one of the top three hospitals in the nation, along with Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which ranked first, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which was second.
Nationally, UCLA ranked in the top 20 in 15 of the 16 specialty areas. In each of the following specialties, UCLA's national rankings are indicated: cancer at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center (11); diabetes and endocrine disorders (8); digestive disorders (5); ear, nose and throat (8); geriatrics (1); gynecology (10); heart and heart surgery (10); kidney disorders (7); neurology and neurosurgery (7); ophthalmology at UCLA's Jules Stein Eye Institute (5); orthopedics (13); psychiatry at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (5); respiratory disorders (17); rheumatology (5); and urology (4).
"When the stakes are high, you want the best care you can get for someone close to you," said U.S. News' health rankings editor Avery Comarow. "These are hospitals that are used to getting the sickest patients."
The UCLA Health has for more than half a century provided the best in health care and the latest in medical technology to the people of Los Angeles and the world. Comprised of Ronald Reagan UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center–UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital and the UCLA Medical Group, with its wide-reaching system of primary care and specialty care offices throughout the region, the UCLA Health is among the most comprehensive and advanced health care systems in the world. For information about clinical programs or help in choosing a personal physician, call 800-UCLA-MD1 or visit www.uclahealth.org.
