Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Rush University Medical Center are among the top 20 hospitals in the country and are once again tied for the title of best hospital in Illinois, according to U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Northwestern and Rush are the only Illinois hospitals to rank among the nation’s top 20. U.S. News ranked the University of Chicago Medical Center as the third-best hospital in the state and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn as the fourth-best.
Last year, Rush and Northwestern also tied for the title of best hospital in the state, after more than a decade of Northwestern holding the top spot alone.
“We are truly proud and honored,” said Dr. Paul Casey, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Rush University System for Health. “I think this nomination is a true testament to the relentless dedication and skill of the Rush team and the work they do to help patients every day.”
Each year, U.S. News publishes its list of the best hospitals in Illinois and the rest of the country. Chicago-area hospitals, which compete for patients, often pay close attention to these rankings and use the results in their advertising.
In recent years, however, U.S. News has come under fire for its rankings, including those of hospitals, law schools and medical schools. Last year, two Pennsylvania-based health systems said they no longer wanted to participate in the rankings because they felt they did not provide an accurate picture of hospital quality.
But other hospital executives still see value in the ratings.
“By participating, we can ensure that our organization is evolving in the areas where it needs to evolve and improve,” said Dr. Tom Spiegel, vice president and chief quality officer at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, noting that U.S. News bases most of its evaluations on publicly available data. “We don’t blindly follow U.S. News & World Report, but we use it as an external assessment of where we can improve.”
U.S. News ranks hospitals based on federal data, including mortality rates, preventable complications and levels of nursing care. U.S. News recently adjusted its methodology, such as placing less emphasis on expert opinions and including more outpatient data (data on patients who don’t stay overnight in the hospital). This year’s rankings also include data from Medicare Advantage patients, not just traditional Medicare patients.
In addition to producing a list of the nation’s best hospitals, U.S. News also rates hospitals across a number of specialties, procedures and conditions. Northwestern Memorial ranked among the nation’s top 10 hospitals this year in four specialties: cardiology, heart and vascular surgery (7th); diabetes and endocrinology (8th); gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery (10th); and obstetrics and gynecology (9th). Rush ranked among the nation’s top 10 hospitals in neurology and neurosurgery (7th), orthopedics (10th) and geriatrics (10th).
The University of Chicago Medical Center’s highest scores were 11th nationally for ENT and 12th nationally for cancer.
U.S. News has ranked Chicago’s Shirley Ryan AbilityLab as the nation’s top rehabilitation hospital for the 34th consecutive year.
Other hospitals ranked in U.S. News’ top 10 in Illinois this year (with some ties) include: Endeavor Health (with Highland Park, Skokie, Evanston and Glenbrook hospitals ranked together), Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood and Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.
U.S. News is one of several organizations that rank hospitals each year, often with different results. For example, the nonprofit Leapfrog Group gave Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center an A grade, but gave Northwestern Memorial a B grade. Medicare has its own rating system, in which it gave Northwestern Memorial and Rush University Medical Center five out of five stars for overall quality, while giving the University of Chicago Medical Center four stars.
Ratings agencies encourage patients to use their ratings and rankings as one factor when choosing where to receive care. Patients should also consider their health insurance coverage, their specific medical needs and where their doctor practices when choosing a hospital, Ben Harder, U.S. News’ editor and chief health analysis officer, said in a video provided to the media.
He called the U.S. News rankings a “starting point” for patients.
“There is no single hospital that is best for all patients, or even best for all patients in a particular region of the country,” Harder said. “The highest-ranked hospital may not be the right hospital for you as a patient.”
