Survey: University of Chicago Medical Center one of top Chicago-area hospitals

Survey: University of Chicago Medical Center one of top Chicago-area hospitals

March 29, 2011

The University of Chicago Medical Center, long recognized as one of the finest hospitals in the country, has now been named one of the best in the city in the first Best Hospitals metro-area rankings from U.S.News & World Report.

The magazine used data from the 2010-11 Best Hospitals survey but re-analyzed it for all 52 U.S. metro areas with populations of 1 million or more. The new rankings add 490 high-performing hospitals to the 132 national leaders.

In the 2010 national "Best Hospitals" survey, U.S.News & World Report selected the University of Chicago Medical Center as one of the finest hospitals in the United States for 11 specialties. Nine programs--digestive disorders (#6), cancer (#15), diabetes and endocrinology (#18), pulmonology (#21), kidney disease (#21), neurology & neurosurgery (#26), heart & heart surgery (#27), urology (#28) and geriatrics (#29)--were ranked in the top 30 nationwide. Gynecology (#34), and ear, nose and throat (#38) scored in the top 50.

The new metropolitan list shows that UCMC narrowly missed the cutoff in three additional specialties: orthopedics, psychiatry and rheumatology.

Ranks in most specialties are based on a mathematical formula that takes into account the institution's reputation based on polls of specialists, the ratio between actual and expected mortality, nursing care, and several other factors such as available technology, patient/community services and procedure volume.

In March, the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine was ranked 12th in the nation. The University's graduate programs in the biological sciences were ranked 13th. Both placed at the top for Chicago-area schools by a wide margin.