Four Northwestern Medicine Hospitals Among "America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report

CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Four Northwestern Medicine^® hospitals have been recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its 2016-17 ranking of America's Best Hospitals. Northwestern Memorial Hospital is once again recognized as one of the top hospitals in the country ranking 8^th on the prestigious Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Northwestern Memorial is also ranked 1^st in both the Chicago Metro Region and Illinois for the fifth consecutive year. Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital is ranked 7^th in both the Chicago Metro Region and Illinois. Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital and Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital are tied for 19^th in the Chicago Metro Region and 27^th in Illinois.  

"With four of our hospitals and 13 clinical care specialties recognized by U.S. News, this is an achievement that further distinguishes Northwestern Medicine as Chicago's premier academic health system and reaffirms our commitment to providing world-class healthcare to our patients," said Dean M. Harrison, President and Chief Executive Officer, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare. "This honor again demonstrates the shared commitment of our talented physicians, nurses and staff who provide innovative and high-quality compassionate care."

The Best Hospitals Honor Roll highlights the top 20 hospitals nationwide that deliver the highest quality of care across a range of specialties, procedures and conditions. Northwestern Memorial is nationally ranked in 13 out of 16 specialties and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital is ranked in one specialty. Northwestern Memorial has four specialties that received top 10 recognition:

• Northwestern Memorial Hospital is ranked 6^th in the country for Cardiology & Heart Surgery, moving up from 9^th. "Our steady climb reflects a decade-long commitment to building an outstanding team of physicians, trainees, investigators, staff and administrators at Northwestern," said Patrick McCarthy, MD, chief of cardiac surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and executive director of the Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. "We have focused on providing great clinical results for our patients, offering the latest treatments and technologies and providing an environment for patients and our employees that is first rate. Every member of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is responsible for our success from the greeter when the patients arrive, our nurses, our OR and lab teams to our world-class physicians."
  
  "This recognition reflects that our commitment to patient care is resolute," said Clyde Yancy, MD, MSc, associate director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and Northwestern Memorial's chief of cardiology. "Our goal has been and remains the provision of excellent care, expert science and comprehensive education — all done with compassion for those who need us most, our patients. Being recognized as a national top 10 Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery program further endorses our driving principles. We look forward to our future as we introduce class-leading innovations and nurture the next generation of expert clinicians and exceptional researchers, both at our downtown campus and as we extend the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute throughout the Chicago area."
  
  
• Northwestern Memorial's orthopaedics program ranks 6^th in the country moving up three spots. Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital was also ranked 25^th for orthopaedics, jumping 11 spots from 2015-16. "To once again have two of our hospitals – Northwestern Memorial and Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital – recognized among the very best destinations for orthopaedic care in the country is a reflection of Northwestern Medicine's unwavering commitment to providing world-class, comprehensive musculoskeletal care across our health system," said Terrance Peabody, MD, chair of the department of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the Edwin Warner Ryerson professor of orthopaedic surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "The physicians are talented clinicians, exceptional teachers and innovative researchers who are dedicated to providing patients with the highest quality, personalized care for a full range of orthopaedic conditions while mentoring and training the next generation of great orthopaedic surgeons."
  
  
• Northwestern Memorial is ranked 9^th in the country for geriatrics, marking the first time the program has been recognized among the top 10. "To be honored as one of the top ten hospitals in the country for geriatrics shows how driven our team of geriatricians, educators, researchers, nurses, and social workers are in providing leading-edge healthcare to seniors," said Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH, MBA, division chief of geriatrics and associate professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "At Northwestern Medicine, our geriatrics team has been continuously expanding our programs and striving to help our senior patients maintain active, healthy and independent lives. In addition to providing outstanding clinical geriatrics care, we are dedicated to teaching the next generations to care for our seniors, while leading innovative geriatrics research that is life-changing and supports successful aging-in-place. With our population aging, Northwestern is leading the way in geriatrics healthcare."
  
  
• Northwestern Memorial is ranked 9^th in the country for Neurology & Neurosurgery. "This is the fourth consecutive year Northwestern Memorial Hospital has been recognized as one of the top 10 hospitals for neurology and neurological surgery and we are proud to be chosen among the elite programs in the country," said Dimitri Krainc, MD, PhD, chair of the department of neurology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "With our colleagues in neurological surgery, the Northwestern Medicine team is leading the way in offering advanced and comprehensive clinical care while we seek to develop new treatments for neurological disorders and train the next generation of neurologists."
  
  "We are humbled to once again be honored as a national leader in neurosurgery and neurology by U.S. News," said Maciej Lesniak, MD, chair of the department of neurological surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "As one the nation's premier destinations for neurosurgical care, our mission is to collaborate with our partners in neurology to provide our patients with unprecedented access to comprehensive, innovative clinical care and be at the forefront of cutting edge research for complex neurological and neurosurgical disorders."

In addition to its top 10 programs, Northwestern Memorial was also nationally recognized in the following clinical specialties:

• Cancer (14^th)
• Diabetes & Endocrinology (11^th)
• Ear, Nose & Throat (44^th)
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (16^th)
• Gynecology  (31^st)
• Nephrology (14^th)
• Pulmonology (17^th)
• Rheumatology (15^th)
• Urology (11^th)

In addition to its 25^th ranking for orthopaedics, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital is also recognized as high performing in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Nephrology and Urology.

For 2016-17, only 153, or about three percent, of the 5,000 hospitals evaluated by U.S. News were ranked in even one specialty with 1,628 receiving a high performing rating in one or more specialties, procedures or conditions.

U.S. News evaluates hospitals across 16 specialties and nine procedures and conditions. To appear on the Honor Roll, hospitals had to post high scores across many of those areas of care. The Best Hospitals methodologies include objective measures such as patient survival, the number of times a given procedure is performed, infection rates, adequacy of nursing staffing and more. Best Hospitals was produced by U.S. News with RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.  

To learn more about Northwestern Medicine, visit http://news.nm.org/about-northwestern-medicine.html.

SOURCE Northwestern Medicine