Monday, July 10, 2006

Duke Rises in ‘Best U.S. Hospitals' Ranking
By Julie McKeel

Duke University Hospital has once again been named as one of the top 10 U.S. hospitals in the annual U.S. News & World Report's best hospital edition. This is 17th year that the magazine has compiled its annual rankings of America 's top hospitals and Duke has been on the list for all 17years.

This year, Duke rose from 8 th to 7 th in the rankings. Duke received high scores in 14 of the specialties measured, with top-10 rankings in 10 of them.

Only 3%, or 176, of the nation's 5,184 hospitals made the list. The Honor Roll was limited to the 14 hospitals that achieved points in six or more of 16 specialties. Duke is the only hospital in North Carolina ranked in the top 10.

The data, collected and analyzed by RTI International based in Research Triangle Park , awarded Duke 17 points in 10 different specialties based on the magazine's ranking criteria. The rankings weigh three elements equally: reputation, death rate and care-related factors such as patient services.

According to the President/CEO of Duke University Health System Dr. Victor Dzau, “Duke's consistent high rankings among the top 10 best hospitals in the nation year-in and year-out is a testament to the excellent quality of patient care, the dedication of our employees, nurses and doctors, and to the innovation of our medical center. We are proud to be included in this group of great U.S. medical institutions.”

All of the 14 medical centers named as the best this year had to demonstrate a breadth of excellence by achieving a high ranking in no fewer than six of the 15 specialties, according to the magazine.

The top 10 hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report's rankings were, respectively: Johns Hopkins Hospital , the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital , UCLA Medical Center , NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital , Duke, Barnes-Jewish Hospital , University of California-San Francisco and the University of Washington Medical Center.

For more information about the U.S. News & World Report rankings, visit www.usnews.com/besthospitals.