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U.S. News spotlights best hospitals

See which are on the Honor Roll for the best all around and which are top by specialty
By Bernie Monegain

Mass General in Boston is No. 1 on the U.S. News & World Report's annual list of Best Hospitals rankings, reclaiming the top spot on the Honor Roll after falling to No. 2 last year. The list is the publication's 26th edition. Best Hospitals includes information on nearly 5,000 medical centers across the country.

Massachusetts General Hospital, No. 2 last year, reclaimed the No. 1 spot on the Honor Roll, which highlights hospitals that are exceptional in numerous specialties. The Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Hospital and UCLA Medical Center follow at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is No. 1 in cancer care; the Cleveland Clinic is No. 1 in cardiology and heart surgery, and the Hospital for Special Surgery is No. 1 in orthopedics.

Best Hospitals features national rankings in 16 specialties. In the 2015-16 rankings, 137 U.S. hospitals performed well enough in complex care to be nationally ranked in one or more specialties. Just 15 of these qualified for a spot on the Honor Roll by ranking at or near the top in six or more specialties.

U.S. News also identified 520 Best Regional Hospitals, ranking them by state and metro area based on their performance in both complex and common care.

The 15 hospitals who made the honor roll and the best hospitals by specialties are listed on the next page.

The 2015-16 Honor Roll

1. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
3. (tie) Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
3. (tie) UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
5. Cleveland Clinic
6. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
7. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York
8. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
9. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
10. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis
11. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
12. NYU Langone Medical Center, New York
13. UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
14. Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
15. Stanford Health-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California
Following are rankings for top specialty hospitals:

Top 10 Hospitals in Cancer Care

1. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
2. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York
3. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
4. Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, Boston
5. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance/University of Washington Medical Center
6. (tie) Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
6. (tie) UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
7. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
8. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
8. Stanford Health-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, California

Top 10 Hospitals in Cardiology & Heart Surgery

1. Cleveland Clinic
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
3. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York
4. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
6. Duke University Hospital, Durham, North Carolina
7. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
8. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
9. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
10. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles

Top 10 Hospitals in Diabetes & Endocrinology

1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
2. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
3. Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland
4. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
5. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
6. New York Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell, New York City
7. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
8. Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn.
9. Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston
10. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania - Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia

Top 10 Hospitals in Orthopedics

1. Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
3. Cleveland Clinic
4. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
5. Hospital for Joint Diseases, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York
6. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
7. Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
8. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
9. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
10. (tie) New England Baptist Hospital, Boston
10. (tie) UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

For the full list of national rankings in 16 specialties, visit www.usnews.com/best-hospitals.

The Best Hospitals methodology measures patient volume, risk-adjusted survival rates and adequacy of nurse staffing, among other care-related indicators. U.S. News further expanded the number of physicians surveyed for the 2015-16 rankings.

"Patients deserve high-quality information on hospitals," said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News, in announcing this year's results. "We strive to provide them with the most comprehensive data available so they can make more informed decisions together with their doctor about where to undergo treatment."

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by research organization RTI International, based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. U.S. News used both the specialty rankings and its recently published Best Hospitals for Common Care ratings to produce the Best Regional Hospitals.

U.S. News first began publishing hospital rankings in 1990 as part of an expanding group of consumer advice products. Over the past 26 years, the Best Hospitals rankings have helped guide millions of patients and their families to high-quality hospital care when they need it most.

The rankings, freely available at www.usnews.com/best-hospitals, will appear in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2016 guidebook available in August from the U.S. News Store.