'Best Hospitals' Rankings Announced

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—The annual U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals rankings named Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center as the top three "honor roll" hospitals for 2009. The research was conducted by RTI International.

Researchers at RTI collected and analyzed the data and survey information behind the rankings using a respected and well-established methodology, which combined original survey data with secondary analyses of data from various sources, primarily the American Hospital Association and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

This year's version ranks hospitals in 16 different adult specialties, ranging from cancer to heart disease to respiratory disorders and urology. The America's Best Children's Hospital rankings in 10 pediatric specialties were published online in June. Both sets of rankings will be included in the August 2009 print issue of U.S. News & World Report.

For the adult rankings, the researchers looked at almost 5,000 hospitals, and just 174 different hospitals were ranked in at least one specialty.

To qualify for ranking consideration, hospitals in 12 of those specialties had to be a teaching hospital, have a sufficient number of beds, or a sufficient level of important medical technology.

To remain eligible, hospitals had to meet a series of progressively tougher standards to be ranked in those 12 specialties. In the other four specialties, where procedures are often performed on an outpatient basis or Medicare data are unavailable, a hospital's reputation with specialized physicians was the only criterion.

For consideration within a specialty, a hospital must have performed a significant number of defined procedures, or had to have been recommended by at least one physician in the U.S. News & World Report surveys for any of the past three surveys.

Hospitals received a score based on three key components: care-related considerations such as technology and nursing, reputation and mortality. These three components represent the three key aspects of quality hospital care: structure, process and outcomes. A new patient safety index was also added to the methodology this year. Hospitals were ranked by their scores.

In addition to compiling the rankings, RTI conducts an ongoing evaluation of the study methodology. More information about the methodology is available at www.rti.org/besthospitals.

About RTI International

RTI International is one of the world's leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Our staff of more than 2,800 provides research and technical expertise to governments and businesses in more than 40 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, international development, economic and social policy, energy and the environment, and laboratory and chemistry services. For more information, visit www.rti.org.

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