BJC hospitals make strong showing in annual U.S. News 'Best Hospitals' rankings

The annual U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings were released to the public today. U.S. News ranks adult hospitals nationally and regionally based on their performance in both specific specialties, such as cardiology, and in certain common procedures and conditions, such as joint replacements.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital received the No. 1 ranking in Missouri, No. 1 in St. Louis and was ranked nationally in 10 of 15 specialties. Missouri Baptist Medical Center ranked No. 3 in Missouri and No. 2 in St. Louis, and Boone Hospital Center tied for No. 5 in the state.

This year, BJH did not achieve sufficient points to be listed on the Honor Roll of the top 20 hospitals. (See sidebar for this year's list.) BJH finished at No. 22 with 174 points, which fell short of two hospitals tied for No. 20 by only four points. More than 4,500 hospitals are evaluated by U.S. News and BJH remains among the top 1 percent in the country.

As it has in past years, U.S. News made changes in its methodology, which can make the rankings unpredictable, according to Clay Dunagan, MD, BJC senior vice president and chief clinical officer. This year, a major change in the risk-adjusted survival calculation appears to have had a disproportionate impact on BJH scores.

"We are continuing our internal analysis and having discussions with U.S. News representatives to understand why these changes led to this outcome for several highly regarded academic medical centers consistently on the Honor Roll," says Dr. Dunagan.

"U.S. News is just one way that our performance is measured," he adds. "Thanks to the efforts of all our teams, we are seeing improvements in key metrics for patient safety and quality of care across BJC. Our entire health system continues to provide outstanding care as a world-class organization with highly skilled and passionate caregivers."

2019-2020 Best Hospitals Honor Roll

1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
2. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
4. Cleveland Clinic
5. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
6. UCLA Medical Center
7. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
8. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
9. NYU Langone Medical Center
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
11. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers, Ann Arbor
12. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California
13. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
14. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
15. UPMC, Pittsburgh
16. Keck Hospital of USC
17. University of Wisconsin Hospitals
18. (tie) Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
    (tie) Mayo Clinic, Phoenix
19. (tie) Houston Methodist Hospital
    (tie) Yale New Haven Hospital, Connecticut

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