Scripps Hospitals Rank 34th on U.S. News & World Report’s 2010-2011 Best Hospitals

Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and Scripps Green Hospital have been ranked 34th nationally in heart and heart surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010-11 Best Hospitals. Scripps is the only San Diego hospital provider to make the heart and heart surgery list.

The rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and featured in the August print issue of U.S. News, available on newsstands July 27.

“This recognition demonstrates Scripps’ outstanding quality care in cardiovascular services,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps president and CEO. “Today’s news, combined with our recent ranking of one of the country’s top 10 health systems by Thompson Reuters, further demonstrates the consistent high-quality care Scripps provides across our system. We owe these accolades to the incredible dedication and talents of our hospitals’ staff and physicians.”

Scripps will soon break ground on the Scripps Cardiovascular Institute, which will include the cardiovascular programs of Scripps Clinic, Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. Slated for completion in 2015, the $430 million center will be built on the Scripps La Jolla campus. It will include 168 inpatient beds, cardiac catheterization labs with the most advanced medical technology, centralized cardiovascular research labs, and a center for graduate medical education for physicians.

Best Hospitals 2010-11 includes rankings of 152 medical centers nationwide in 16 specialties, including cancer; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose, and throat; gastroenterology; geriatrics; gynecology; heart and heart surgerys; kidney disorders; neurology and neurosurgery; ophthalmology; orthopedics; psychiatry; pulmonology, rehabilitation; rheumatology and urology. Full data is available online for another 1,740 hospitals that qualified for ranking but did not score high enough to be ranked.

The rankings in 12 of the 16 specialties were driven by hard data such as death rates, procedure volume, and balance of nurses and patients. In the four remaining specialties — ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology—hospitals were ranked on reputation alone.

To be considered in any of the 12 data-driven specialties, a hospital first had to meet at least one of four criteria: It had to be a teaching hospital; or be affiliated with a medical school; or have at least 200 beds; or have 100 or more beds and the availability of four or more types of medical technology considered important in a high-quality medical facility, such as a PET/CT scanner and certain precision radiation therapies.

Next, the hospitals had to meet a volume requirement, individually calculated for each specialty. The required volume was the number of Medicare inpatients from 2006 to 2008 who had various specified procedures and conditions in the specialty. A hospital that fell short could still qualify if it had been nominated by at least one physician in any of the U.S. News Best Hospitals reputational surveys conducted in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

“When the stakes are high, you want the best care you can get for yourself or someone close to you,” said Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow. “These hospitals are accustomed to seeing the sickest patients day in and day out.”

About Scripps

Media Contact: Lisa Ohmstede

Phone: 858-626-7142

E-mail: ohmstede.lisa@scrippshealth.org