THE U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT'S annual list of top hospitals was published in July. Most of the institutions it cites are referral centers, where the sickest patients are sent for cutting-edge practice. These hospitals follow-and often pioneer-new treatment guidelines, conduct bench-to-bedside research, and exploit the latest advances in imaging, surgical devices, and other technologies.
A hospital's overall performance is summed up by its U.S. News score, which is made up of three equal parts: reputation, mortality, and a mix of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. Here's the list of top hospitals for treating heart disease, ranked from 1 to 50, based on their scores (#51 previously was among the top 50 and still is considered part of the list). Shown below are the facilities, the relative ratio of nurses to patients (higher is better), and each facility's Web site. Facilities shown in red are Magnet hospitals, having met the standards for excellence set by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
A study published in Circulation's August 8, 2006, issue asserts that hundreds of hospitals across the country offer excellent cardiac care that measures up to or exceeds the care provided in the facilities listed here. For details, see "Performance of Top-Ranked Heart Care Hospitals on Evidence-Based Process Measures" at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/6/558.
Note: Rankings have been revised from the version published in the printed issue of U.S. News because of a data-processing error.
1. Cleveland Clinic Cleveland, Ohio (1.5) http://www.clevelandclinic.org
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (2.8) http://www.mayoclinic.org
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. (2.3) http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org
4. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass. (1.9) http://www.massgeneral.org
5. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass. (2.3) http://www.brighamandwomens.org
6. St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital-Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Tex. (1.7) http://www.sleh.com
7. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C. (1.8) http://medschool.duke.edu
8. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York, N.Y. (1.4) http://www.nyp.org
9. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, Calif. (2.2) http://www.healthcare.ucla.edu
10. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. (1.7) http://www.barnesjewish.org
11. Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, Calif. (1.6) http://www.stanfordhospital.com/default
12. William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich. (1.8) http://www.beaumonthospitals.com
13. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. (1.7) http://www.med.upenn.edu
14. University of Alabama Hospital at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala. (2.0) http://www.health.uab.edu
15. Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Ga. (1.8) http://www.emoryhealthcare.org
16. University Medical Center, Tucson, Ariz. (2.1) http://www.umcarizona.org
17. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, Calif. (1.6) http://www.cedars-sinai.edu
18. Washington Hospital Center, Washington, D.C. (1.5) http://www.whcenter.org
19. University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, Calif. (2.3) http://www.ucsfhealth.org
20. Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Phoenix, Ariz. (2.0) http://www.bannerhealth.com
21. Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio (1.7) http://www.health-alliance.com
22. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health System, Ann Arbor, Mich. (2.4) http://www.med.umich.edu
23. Lehigh Valley Hospital, Allentown, Pa. (2.0) http://www.lvhhn.org
24. Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota, Fla. (1.6) http://www.smh.com
25. Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Va. (1.7) http://www.inova.com/ifh
26. F.G. McGaw Hospital at Loyola University, Maywood, Ill. (2.0) http://www.luhs.org/index.cfm
27. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital-Sentara Heart Hospital, Norfolk, Va. (1.6) http://www.sentara.com/sentara
28. Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn. (2.5) http://www.ynhh.org
29. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Ill. (2.0) http://www.rush.edu
30. Akron General Medical Center, Akron, Ohio (1.5) http://www.akrongeneral.org
31. Mercy Hospital Medical Center, Des Moines, Iowa (1.8) http://www.mercydesmoines.org
32. Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio (1.8) http://www.summahealth.org
33. University Health System, San Antonio, Tex. (1.4) http://www.universityhealthsystem.com
34. University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio (1.4) http://www.uhhs.com
35. Jewish Hospital, Louisville, Ky. (1.4) http://www.jewishhospital.org
36. Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla, Calif. (1.8) http://www.scrippshealth.org
37. Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Mich. (1.7) http://www.henryfordhealth.org
38. University of Minnesota Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn. (1.8) http://www.fairview.org
39. Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, Pa. (1.5) http://pennhealth.com/pahosp
40. Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Minneapolis, Minn. (1.7) http://www.allina.com/ahs/home.nsf
41. Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, Chicago, Ill. (1.5) http://www.advocatehealth.com
42. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass. (1.6) http://www.bidmc.harvard.edu/sites/bidmc/home.asp
43. Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, N.J. (2.0) http://www.humed.com
44. Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Tex. (1.7) http://www.baylorhealth.com
45. University of Chicago Hospitals, Chicago, Ill. (2.3) http://www.uchospitals.edu
46. Riverside Methodist Hospital-Ohio Health, Columbus, Ohio (1.4) http://www.ohiohealth.com
47. St. Vincent's Medical Center, Jacksonville, Fla. (1.1) http://www.jaxhealth.com
48. Charleston Area Medical Center, Charleston, W.Va. (1.9) http://www.camc.org
49. University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville, Va. (2.0) http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu
50. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pa. (1.9) http://www.upmc.com
51. Hamot Medical Center, Erie, Pa. (1.9) http://www.hamot.org
Source: U.S. News & World Report, July 11, 2006 (updated online July 13, 2006); http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-hospitals/rankings/specihqcard.htm.