Scripps Ranked by U.S. News & World Report Among Nation’s Best Hospitals in Eight Categories

U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Hospitals” issue lists Scripps Health among the best in the nation. The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in its 25th 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 eight categories:

• Cardiology and Heart Surgery (No. 18)
• Orthopedics (No. 27)
• Diabetes and Endocrinology (No. 31)
• Gynecology (No. 32)
• Gastroenterology and GI Surgery (No. 34)
• Ears, Nose, and Throat (No. 37)
• Geriatrics (No. 39)
• Pulmonology (No. 39)

And Scripps Mercy Hospital (San Diego and Chula Vista) was ranked No. 48 in the nation for “Diabetes and Endocrinology.”

“Scripps continues to improve our standing among the best in the nation,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health president and CEO. “We are especially proud to be recognized for the tenth year in heart care and to move up the list from No. 20 to No. 18 – especially with the opening of our Prebys Cardiovascular Institute less than seven months away.”

Construction is nearing completion on the $456 million Prebys Cardiovascular Institute a center for innovation that will bring together top researchers, physicians and staff. The cardiovascular institute will incorporate leading-edge wireless technologies and individualized medicine for the best in patient care when it opens in March 2015. Annually, more than 55,000 patients receive their cardiovascular care from Scripps, making it San Diego County’s largest heart care provider. Scripps is the region’s only cardiovascular program consistently recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best in the country.

For the annual Best Hospital rankings, 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 this year. In April, Scripps Health was named once again among the top five large health systems in the nation by the international business research firm Truven Health Analytics..

State and metro rankings

In addition to the national rankings, all of the Scripps hospitals were recognized for high performance in 11 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. 7 in California and the No. 2 in the San Diego metro area. Additionally, they were recognized for high performance in four specialty areas (in addition to the eight nationally ranked specialties):

• Cancer
• Nephrology
• Neurology and Neurosurgery
• Urology

Scripps Mercy Hospital was ranked No.14 in California, No. 3 in the San Diego metro area, and recognized for high performance in 11 specialties areas (in addition to being ranked nationally in diabetes and endocrinology):

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

Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas was ranked No. 59 in California and No. 6 in the San Diego metro area. This facility was recognized for high performance in orthopedics.

“The national, state and metro rankings are a testament to the extraordinary care that our physicians and staff provide to our patients every day,” said Van Gorder. “Whether it’s about cardiology and heart surgery or one of the other clinical areas U.S. News recognized us in, this is more evidence that we are succeeding in our efforts to respond to the changing health care landscape while improving Scripps already high quality care.”

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 by U.S. News & World Report and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2015 guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands in mid-August.

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