Best Hospitals In Oregon: New U.S. News Rankings

U.S. News & World Report has released its rankings of the best hospitals in America for 2018-19, evaluating more than 4,500 hospitals in the country across 16 specialties and nine procedures and conditions. U.S. News also ranked the best hospitals in America by region.

While Oregon Health & Science University in Portland was ranked as the state's best hospital, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was named the country’s best hospital.

“To be recognized as one of the nation’s best hospitals is no small feat,” OHSU Interim COO Joe Ness said in a statement. “This recognition is a testament to our employees who work tirelessly to ensure patients and families receive the best possible care.”

Mayo Clinic was tops on an “honor roll” list of 20 hospitals noted for delivering “exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care.” The Minnesota hospital was ranked in 15 specialties and rated as “high performing” in one specialty.

U.S News explains that a “high performing” rating means a hospital was not nationally ranked but was significantly better than average in a specialty.

In all, 158 hospitals in the country ranked nationally in at least one specialty and more than 1,100 hospitals were rated as high performing in at least one common procedure or condition, according to U.S. News. A total of 29 hospitals were rated as “high performing” in all nine procedures and conditions. Hospitals were not ranked numerically for procedures and conditions.

Of Oregon’s five best hospitals, OHSU in Portland was nationally ranked in six general specialties and seven children's specialties, and rated as high performing in five adult specialties and eight procedures/conditions.

“Our U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings further demonstrate OHSU’s longstanding commitment to excellence, and to ensuring all Oregonians have access to world-class health care,” John Hunter, executive vice president and chief executive officer of OHSU health systems, said in a statement. “I’m extremely proud of our faculty and staff, whose dedication to our patients, every day, is unwavering.”

Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, ranked #2 in Oregon, was not nationally ranked in any specialty. However, the hospital was rated as high performing in six adult specialties and eight procedures/conditions.

Providence Portland Medical Center, ranked #3 in Oregon, was nationally ranked in one adult specialty and rated high performing in one other adult specialty and for seven procedures/conditions.

Salem Hospital, ranked #4 in Oregon, was also not nationally ranked in any specialty. It was rated as high performing for three adult specialties and six procedures/conditions, though.

And Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center, ranked #5 in Oregon, received only a high performing rating in two adult specialties and five procedures/conditions.

According to the rankings, these are the best hospitals in Oregon:

• OHSU Hospital (1st)
• Providence St. Vincent Medical Center (2nd)
• Providence Portland Medical Center (3rd)
• Salem Hospital (4th)
• Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center (5th)
• St. Charles Medical Center (tied for 6th)
• Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center (tied for 6th)
• PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend (8th)
• Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Center (tied for 9th)
• Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center (tied for 9th)

The hospitals that made the 2018-19 honor roll are:

• Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (1)
• Cleveland Clinic (2)
• Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (3)
• Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (4)
• University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor (5)
• UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco (6)
• UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles (7)
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles (8)
• Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, Calif. (9)
• New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, N.Y. (10)
• Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis (11)
• Mayo Clinic Phoenix (11)
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago (13)
• Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia (14)
• NYU Langone Hospitals, New York (15)
• UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Pittsburgh (15)
• Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn. (17)
• Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (18)
• Duke University Hospital, Durham, N.C. (19)
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (20)

You can see the full rankings here.

U.S. News uses two methodologies, one for procedures and conditions ratings and another for specialty rankings. The rankings are produced by U.S. News with research organization, RTI International.

U.S. News says its methodologies in most areas of care are based largely or entirely on objective measures like risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety and quality of nursing.

(You can read more about the methodology here.)

The specialties included in the rankings are:

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

The procedures and conditions included in the rankings are:

• COPD
• Heart Bypass Surgery
• Heart Failure
• Hip Replacement
• Knee Replacement
• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair
• Aortic Valve Surgery
• Colon Cancer Surgery
• Lung Cancer Surgery

Written by Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff, with additional reporting from Oregon Editor Travis Loose
Image via Shutterstock