U.S. News & World Report Ranks Scripps Among Nation’s Best in Six Categories

Scripps Health is ranked among the nation’s best in U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” issue. The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in its 24th year, recognizes hospitals that excel in treating patients with the most challenging health care needs.

The combined programs of Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla — listed as “Scripps La Jolla Hospitals and Clinics” — are ranked among the nation’s top hospitals in six categories:

• Cardiology and Heart Surgery (#20)
• Gastroenterology and GI Surgery (#33)
• Gynecology (#37)
• Urology (#41)
• Orthopedics (#45)
• Geriatrics (#48)

“These rankings further validate that Scripps is a world-class medical institution, whose physicians and staff provide our patients excellent care,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health president and CEO. “This is the ninth year that Scripps has received a national ranking in heart care from U.S. News and we are especially proud to be listed this year among the top 20 in the nation, which is an indication that we continue to improve our standing among the best in the nation.”

U.S. News evaluates hospitals in 16 adult specialties. In most specialties, it ranks the nation’s top 50 hospitals and also recognizes other high-performing hospitals that provide care at nearly the level of their nationally ranked peers. This is the second prestigious ranking Scripps has earned. In April, Scripps was named as one of the Top Five Large Health Systems in the country by Truven Health Analytics.

“A hospital that emerges from our analysis as one of the best has much to be proud of,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News Health Rankings Editor. “Only about 15 percent of hospitals are recognized for their high performance as among their region’s best. Just 3 percent of all hospitals earn a national ranking in any specialty.”

State and metro rankings

In addition to the national rankings, all of the Scripps hospitals were recognized for high performance in 13 specialties in the Best Hospitals metro area rankings for San Diego.

The combined programs of Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla were ranked No. 6 in California and No. 2 in the San Diego metro area. Additionally, they were recognized for high performance in seven specialty areas (in addition to the six nationally ranked specialties):

• Cancer
• Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Ear, Nose and Throat
• Nephrology
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Pulmonology
• Rheumatology

Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego and Chula Vista) was ranked No.16 in California, ranked No. 3 in the San Diego metro area, and recognized for high performance in 12 specialties including:

• Cancer
• Cardiology and Heart Surgery
• Diabetes and Endocrinology
• Ear, Nose and Throat
• Gastroenterology and GI Surgery
• Geriatrics
• Gynecology
• Nephrology
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Orthopedics
• Pulmonology
• Urology

Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas was ranked No. 37 in California and No. 5 in the San Diego metro area. This facility was recognized for high performance in:

• Gynecology
• Urology

“Our national, state and metro rankings as one of the best health care providers are further evidence that we are doing things right here at Scripps as we transform ourselves under health care reform to continue to improve our high quality care,” said Van Gorder.

Methodology

U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age. Objective measures such as patient survival and safety data, the adequacy of nurse staffing levels and other data largely determined the rankings in most specialties.

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metro rankings.

The rankings have been published at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2014 guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands August 27.

Learn more about Scripps Health, a nonprofit integrated health system in San Diego, Calif.