Methodist Named Best Memphis Hospital by U.S. News and World Report

Methodist Memphis Hospitals has been named the Best Hospital in Memphis by U.S. News and World Report. Of all 25 hospitals in the Memphis, Tennessee metropolitan area, Methodist is the top-ranking. Methodist Healthcare’s four Memphis metro hospitals are licensed as one. They are: Methodist University Hospital, Methodist North Hospital, Methodist South Hospital and Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital.

Methodist was cited as best in 12 medical specialties: cancer, diabetes/endocrinology, ear/ nose/throat, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, heart and heart surgery, kidney disorders, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonary and urology. To see the rankings, visit http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/memphis-tn.

In addition to this BEST metro ranking, U.S. News and World Report magazine last year named Methodist Hospitals of Memphis as #27 in the nation for orthopedic care for 2010-11.

“We are honored that the outstanding quality care we provide every day is being recognized on such a prestigious list,” said Gary S. Shorb, president and Chief Executive Officer for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. “I applaud our physicians and all our Associates who render extraordinary patient care every day and have catapulted us onto what is truly the gold standard of hospital rankings.”

Methodist is among 622 metro-area hospitals now recognized by U.S. News. The new rankings, the largest expansion of Best Hospitals to date, offer patients and their families a much better chance of finding a top-performing hospital in their health insurance network. And for patients who would need to travel to visit a nationally ranked hospital, the metro rankings may offer a local alternative—or several. The added centers boast a strong record of high performance for most conditions and procedures in one or more specialties.

The new rankings derive from the Best Hospitals methodology that produced the 2010-11 national rankings. All of the 4,852 U.S. hospitals were whittled down to much smaller groups by specialty—898 in cancer and 1,598 in orthopedics, for instance—that met stringent benchmarks such as a minimum number of certain types of serious cases. The top 25 percent of hospitals in each specialty that met those standards were identified, using the scoring methods employed in the national rankings. Out of those 25 percent, hospitals within metropolitan areas with populations of 1 million or more were ranked in their metro area.

The metro-area rankings will be updated in July 2011, when the 2011-12 national rankings are published online.