U-M hospital care is the best in the state, and among the best in the nation, says new ranking

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers offer the best care in Michigan and some of the nation's best care, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report.

The results, released online today, mark the 18th year in a row that U-M has been named to the honor roll of "America's Best Hospitals," this year with a rank of 17th. U-M is one of only eight hospitals in the nation to make the honor roll every year since 1995. In addition, 156 of U-M's physicians have been named among America's Top Doctors in a database published on the U.S. News website.

U-M is the only hospital in Michigan on the national honor roll, which signifies all-around excellence in multiple areas of specialized medical care. U-M earned a high national berth in 14 ranked specialties, and was recognized as high-performing in two others.

This is the first year for the statewide ranking, and the second year that the metro Detroit ranking includes Ann Arbor. U-M is rated number 1 in both.

"As the only hospital that serves patients from every county in Michigan, and many other parts of the country and world, we're proud to offer a high level of care and expertise across many specialties," says Doug Strong, M.B.A., director and chief executive officer of the U-M Hospitals and Health Centers. "There are many ways to measure a hospital's excellence, and we are grateful to be recognized in this ranking and others."

U-M ranked in the top 20 nationwide in seven specialties, and in the top 40 in seven others. These include the specialty care at U-M's Geriatrics Center (15th), Comprehensive Cancer Center (14th), Cardiovascular Center (22nd), Comprehensive Diabetes Center (16th) and Kellogg Eye Center's ophthalmologic care (13th). A full list is below.

The public can see even more evidence of U-M's top-quality care online at www.uofmhealth.org/quality, where U-M offers data about the quality and safety of a wide range of operations and other types of care. Such measures form the basis for part of the U.S. News ranking, but the U-M site goes far beyond the publicly available data that rankings are based on.

The U-M Hospitals and Health Centers are part of the U-M Health System, which also has been recognized by U.S. News as having one of the nation's top medical schools – tied for 10^th in the country -- and top children's hospitals, with C.S. Mott Children's Hospital ranked in all 10 specialties of children's care that are measured.

U-M also earned an "A" patient safety grade and Top Hospital designation recently from the Leapfrog Group, and has been named by IMS Health as one of the nation's most integrated health systems, encompassing a broad range of services for patients of all types.

The U-M Health System benefits by being part of a university with strong graduate school rankings across the board in other areas, such as public health, nursing, social work, engineering, business and law.

For the 2012 "America's Best Hospitals" rankings, U-M's rank in each specialty category is:

Overall: #17
State of Michigan: #1
Detroit metro: #1

Cancer (#14)
Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#22)
Diabetes & Endocrinology (#16)
Ear, Nose & Throat (#13)
Gastroenterology (#30)
Geriatrics (#15)
Gynecology (#33)
Nephrology (#35)
Neurology & Neurosurgery (#30)
Ophthalmology (#13)
Orthopedics (#40)
Pulmonology (#20)
Rheumatology (#16)
Urology (#13)

U-M is also high-performing in the reputational rankings for:
Psychiatry
Rehabilitation

U.S. News' 2011-12 publication of "America's Best Hospitals" will be on sale at newsstands in August. The rankings are also available online at http://health.USNews.com.

SOURCE University of Michigan Health System