University of Virginia Health System

EIGHT U.VA. MEDICAL SPECIALTIES RANKED IN U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT'S BEST HOSPITALS

Eight medical specialties at the U.Va. Health System are listed in U.S. News & World Report's 2001 America's Best Hospital's guide, due to appear in the magazine's July 23 issue.

According to the magazine's editors, America's Best Hospitals is an assessment of the nation's hospitals based on an index made up of three equal parts related to quality of care: reputation, mortality and various factors related to patient care such as nursing and technology.

U.Va. specialties listed in the new guide and their rankings among hospitals nationwide are: endocrinology, 6; cancer, 22; ears, nose and throat, 22; urology, 23; neurology and neurosurgery, 29; respiratory disorders, 34; geriatrics, 49; and kidney disease, 49.

We are happy to have received this continuing recognition, said Dr. Robert M. Carey, dean of the U.Va. School of Medicine. Although these disciplines have been cited this year, all of our physicians and programs are among the best in the country.

The magazine has been ranking hospitals and their specialties since 1990. This year, data from 6,116 hospitals was collected and the list was narrowed to 1,878. To qualify, a hospital must be a teaching hospital or associated with a medical school and have at least nine technology services out of a prescribed list of 17. Eligibility for ranking in the specialties depends on performing a specified number of defined procedures during the past three years or by being named by at least one physician in the U.S. News surveys in the last three years.

July 13, 2001