Happy Doc !
To Live, Love, Learn, Laugh, and Leave a Legacy!
Dear Colleagues:
Seventeen years in a row. What an accomplishment and what a tribute to all of you as we welcome the news that The Johns Hopkins Hospital has again earned the top spot as “Best of the Best” in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Honor Roll of American hospitals.
This time around, we placed first in four of 16 ranked medical specialties and in the top six in 11 others. Only 18 hospitals nationwide made it to the Honor Roll this year out of 5,462 institutions graded. So yet again, the magazine, along with medical specialists across the nation, has affirmed the excellence of our faculty physicians, our nurses and our staff. We say it each year and we mean it: This recognition belongs to all of you and to the community physicians whose contributions to Johns Hopkins Medicine are significant. This year’s annual guide reports results of a survey of a hospital’s reputation among a national sample of board-certified specialty physicians, along with analysis of objective indicators including death rates, the availability of advanced services such as robotic surgery, patient services such as self-controlled pain relief and translators, cell transplants for cancer, state-certified trauma care, advanced technology, nurse staffing, service mix and discharge planning. Among some changes in the magazine’s rankings, pediatrics ratings have been temporarily dropped, but geriatrics was added back after a year’s absence.
In addition to landing at the overall #1 spot on the Honor Roll by accumulating 30 points in 15 specialties, we ranked #1 in Ear, Nose & Throat, Gynecology, Urology and Rheumatology. We ranked #2 in Geriatrics, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology and Psychiatry; we ranked #3 in Cancer, Digestive Disorders, Endocrinology and Respiratory Disorders; we ranked #4 in Heart & Heart Surgery; we ranked #5 in Orthopedics; we ranked #6 in Kidney Disease, and #21 in Rehabilitation. For a detailed list of all the rankings, go to www.hopkinsmedicine.org or to the U.S. News & World Report Web site at www.usnews.com.
This is especially welcome news as we continue our campus renewal and enrich our commitment to patient safety, diversity, innovation and the education of new generations of physicians and scientists. As members of the public and our patients become ever more interested in learning more about their health care, such independent evaluations as these rankings are of growing value to them, our community, referring physicians and insurers. The elements of what makes us rank high are firmly in place and we will, as always, strive for excellence every day of every year to come.
All of the medical centers on the magazine’s honor roll are superb, and we are privileged to be in their good company. We congratulate them all, but for now, our special thanks again to all of you for all you give to Johns Hopkins. Your innovative and compassionate patient care is Hopkins’ hallmark. You make it all possible. Year after year after wonderful year!
