Newswise — In its annual "Best Hospitals" rankings, U.S. News & World Report named Johns Hopkins Hospital, Mayo Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital as the nation's top three "Honor Roll" hospitals in 2005.
RTI International conducted the annual survey for U.S. News, using a well-established methodology that 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.
Researchers compiled hospital data in 17 specific medical specialties ranging from pediatrics to cancer to geriatrics. U.S. News's Honor Roll hospital list was compiled from those that excelled in six or more specialty areas.
To qualify for ranking consideration, hospitals in 12 specialties had to satisfy at least one of three requirements: be a member in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, be affiliated with a medical school, or provide at least nine of 18 key technology-related medical services. Of 6,007 hospitals in the United States, 1,827 qualified for consideration.
Once accepted for consideration, hospitals had to meet a series of progressively tougher standards to be ranked in 12 of 17 specialties. In the other five specialties, a hospital's reputation with specialized physicians was the only criterion.
For consideration within a specialty, a hospital had to have performed a significant number of defined procedures, or had to have been recommended by at least one physician in the U.S. News surveys for the past three consecutive years.
Hospitals were each assigned 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 hospital care: structure, process and outcome and structure. The scores were compiled into a list called the Index of Hospital Quality.
For 12 specialties, hospitals listed in U.S. News were those with the 50 highest scores in each specialty. For the five specialties ranked on reputation alone, hospitals with three percent or more of nominations were listed.
"RTI is pleased to conduct this important research for U.S. News and provide a valuable tool to health care consumers," said Joe Murphy, project director and research methodologist at RTI International.
"The credibility of these rankings is critically important to U.S. News, given the importance to consumers," said Avery Comarow, who directs the annual rankings. "Real people will use these rankings. RTI International researchers conducted an extremely rigorous review of the data, which lends significant credibility and independence to these results."
In addition to compiling the rankings, RTI will conduct an ongoing evaluation of the study methodology. More information about the methodology is available at www.rti.org/besthospitals.
The rankings are highly regarded by consumers, health care professionals and academic researchers and are frequently cited by and incorporated into scholarly investigations.
To view the 2005 rankings please visit http://www.usnews.com/besthospitals.
About RTI InternationalRTI International is an independent nonprofit research organization dedicated to conducting research and development that improves the human condition. With a staff of more than 2,500 people, RTI offers innovative research and technical solutions to governments and businesses worldwide in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, advanced technology, surveys and statistics, education and training, economic and social development, and the environment. For more information, please visit us at: http://www.rti.org.
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