Dive Brief:
- The Mayo Clinic marked its fifth year in a row leading the list of U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals. Cleveland Clinic jumped two spots from last year to land in second and Johns Hopkins Hospital retained its spot in third.
- Rounding out the top five in the annual rankings released Tuesday were New York Presbyterian Hospital and UCLA Medical Center, tied for fourth. Last year's runner-up, Massachusetts General Hospital, fell to sixth.
- The data used to determine the rankings predates the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. U.S. News said it has been asked whether it will make any changes to its rankings or methodology considering the crisis. "Over the next few months, we will initiate a dialogue on this topic with a range of hospitals," the publication wrote.
Dive Insight:
The annual rankings, which hospitals receiving recognition often advertise heavily, are a reminder of a less frantic time in healthcare. Providers are now adjusting to a new normal as their workflows and finances have been upended.
In acknowledging the coronavirus crisis, U.S. News also published interviews with healthcare leaders on dealing with the pandemic and highlighted those working on the front lines. "The pandemic has altered, perhaps permanently, how patients get care and from whom they get it. Amid the disruption, we are steadfastly committed to providing the public with authoritative data for comparing hospital quality," Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News, said in a statement.
The publication instituted some tweaks to the methodology for ranking hospitals this year. New ratings were added to measure hospitals' transcatheter aortic valve replacement programs and stroke within 30 days of a TAVR procedure. Also, data on outpatient knee replacements were included.
For the specialty rankings, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center ranked No. 1 for cancer; Cleveland Clinic had the top spot for cardiology and heart surgery; and Hospital for Special Surgery was first in orthopaedics.
The U.S. News Ranking are a mainstay of the industry, along with those from organizations like Leapfrog and Healthgrades. But some recent efforts have attempted to take a different approach. A report earlier this month from the Lown Institute think tank that ranked hospitals based on care value, care quality and civic leadership found renowned institutions like Mayo Clinic far from the top 10.