Thirteen was a lucky number yesterday for Johns Hopkins Hospital: For the 13th consecutive year, it earned top honors in U.S. News and World Report's annual list of the nation's best hospitals.
Published on the magazine's Web site last night and in next week's issue of the magazine, the rankings have become a kind of Academy Awards for the nation's hospitals, a quick and well-known guide to gauge an institution's reputation and quality of care.
"Obviously, we're delighted. We think it reflects the team effort from our administrators, physicians, nurses and support staff," said Johns Hopkins spokesman Gary Stephenson.
Hopkins earned the honor by ranking first in four of 17 major specialties, urology, ophthalmology, gynecology and ear-nose specialties. It was second or third in 10 others.
Hopkins was followed in the rankings by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Although no other Baltimore-area institutions made the overall top 10 list, several were ranked in individual specialties. Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital was 11th in psychiatry, and the University of Maryland Medical System was ranked 24th in kidney diseases and 30th in psychiatry. Sinai Hospital in Northwest Baltimore was ranked 49th in cardiac care, and Union Memorial Hospital was ranked 49th in orthopedics.
"That Sinai is the only community-based hospital in Maryland to be named a top heart hospital, among other prestigious medical centers around the country, is an honor," said Neil M. Meltzer, Sinai's president. This is the third year in a row that the hospital had been ranked on the cardiac list.
The magazine has assessed hospitals in the United States for the past 14 years. The rankings include 203 medical centers, winnowed from 6,003 hospitals across the country. Its rankings are based on several factors, including surveys sent to 8,160 doctors who are asked to rate the best institutions in their specialties. About 52 percent responded.
