Intermountain Medical Center named Utah’s Best Hospital

U.S. News & World’s Reports’ 2013-14 Best Hospitals in America rankings are out and Intermountain Medical Center is ranked as Utah’s number one hospital. The new rankings also recognize four other Intermountain hospitals among Utah’s best hospitals — LDS, Utah Valley, McKay-Dee, and Dixie Regional Medical Center — for
“high-performing” medical specialties.

U.S. News publishes a list of the best adult hospitals in America annually in 16 medical specialties. The rankings are widely considered to be the most prestigious assessment of the nation’s medical centers. It includes a national ranking of the top 50 hospitals in each specialty, which didn’t include any Utah hospitals this year, and a listing of the best-performing hospitals in each state and in major metropolitan regions across the U.S. 

The top three hospitals in Utah, according to U.S. News’ state-by-state rankings, are, in this order: Intermountain Medical Center, University Hospital, and LDS Hospital. The rankings also include these results:

• Intermountain Medical Center is listed as the number one hospital in Utah and the number one hospital in the Salt Lake City metro area. It’s recognized for eight high-performing specialties: Cardiology/heart surgery, diabetes/endocrinology, gastroenterology/GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology (kidney disorders), pulmonology, and urology. The rankings included a patient satisfaction survey that reported 79 percent of Intermountain Medical Center’s patients would “definitely” recommend the hospital to their family and friends, compared to a state average of 75 percent and a national average of 70 percent.

• LDS Hospital is ranked as the number three hospital in Utah and the number three hospital in the Salt Lake metro area. It’s recognized for six high-performing specialties: Cancer, gastroenterology/GI surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. In terms of patient satisfaction, 80 percent of its patients would recommend the hospital to their family and friends, compared to a state average of 75 percent and a national average of 70 percent. 

• Utah Valley Regional Medical Center is listed as the number four hospital in Utah and is recognized for five high-performing specialties: Gastroenterology/GI surgery, geriatrics, orthopedics, pulmonology, and urology. In terms of patient satisfaction, 76 percent of its patients would recommend the hospital to their family and friends. 

• McKay-Dee Hospital was ranked as the number four hospital in Utah and number 4 in the Salt Lake Metro area. It’s recognized for three high-performing specialties: Nephrology, pulmonology and urology. In terms of patient satisfaction, 82 percent of its patients would recommend the hospital to their family and friends.

“We’re very proud to have two of the UCR’s hospital listed at the top of U.S. News’ state rankings,” says Larry Hancock, the UCR’s CEO. “Our hospitals and a number of other Intermountain Healthcare hospitals are consistently ranked by different organizations among the best hospitals in America, and we do especially well when the ranking systems use clinical data to focus on the quality of a hospital’s patient outcomes. By that standard, Intermountain Healthcare is one of the best healthcare systems in America. This recognition is a wonderful validation of the skill and commitment of our employees and physician partners who work so hard to deliver the best possible patient care, and do it consistently and efficiently.” 

Intermountain Medical Center Administrator David Grauer adds: “This recognition is further evidence that we’re reaching our goal to expand our national reputation as one of the country’s best hospitals and as a model of how care should be provided — personally, regionally, and nationally. That’s very sweet to see, and a real credit to our people. The U.S. News ratings attract a lot of attention, and it’s been gratifying to see that only six years after we opened our doors, we’re ranked as the best hospital in Utah and that our programs are attracting more and more attention every year from experts from throughout the country.” 

What criteria does U.S. News use to rank the nation’s hospitals? The rankings evaluated 4,806 hospitals this year and are based on a hospital’s reputation (as measured by a survey of medical specialists), outcomes, volumes, service excellence ratings, mortality rates, and other measures related to patient care, including data collected by the federal government. Rankings in 12 of the 16 medical categories also require a hospital to meet least one of these criteria: Be a teaching hospital, be affiliated with a medical school, have at least 200 beds, or have at least 100 beds and offer at least four of eight specified medical technologies, such as a PET/CT scanner. In this year’s rankings, 2,262 hospitals met those criteria. 

More information on U.S. News’ national rankings is available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals — and more information on regional rankings is available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/area/salt-lake-city-ut.​