The Best Hospitals in RI—New US News Ranking

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

GoLocalProv Health Team

 

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The smiling nurses of Miriam Hospital have plenty to be happy about--their hospital was just named #1 in Providence as well as Rhode Island in US News & World Report's Best Regional Hospitals ranking. Photo: Miriam Hospital.

The Miriam Hospital has been ranked as the #1 hospital not only in the Greater Providence Metropolitan area, but in the entire state, according to the latest US News & World Report's Best Hospitals 2013 rankings, just released.

Rhode Island Hospital was ranked #2 in Providence and RI, followed by Women and Infants Hospital at #3 in the metropolitan area as well as statewide. Newport Hospital was ranked #4.

The Miriam Hospital

Miriam Hospital took top state honors in the highly-publicized ranking of more than 4,800 hospitals nationwide, ranking highest among the Providence metropolitan area's 24 hospitals as well as #1 among Rhode Island's 16 hospitals. The 247-bed general medical, surgical, and teaching hospital was cited for High Performance by US News on 7 Adult Specialties:  Diabetes & Endocrynology, Geriatrics, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Urology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, and Pulmonology.

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US News based its analysis of the Miriam on 15,638 admissions in the latest year for which data are available. The hospital performed 4,039 annual inpatient and 6,061 outpatient surgeries. Its emergency room had 52,710 visits.

What the patients thought

Also included in US News rankings--the results of a patient satisfaction survey. The questionnaire, created by the federal government and utilized by almost 4,000 hospitals nationwide, revealed that at the Miriam, 76% of patients rated the hospital "highest or very high" (the state average for RI was 9 points lower, at 66%). When it came to recommending the hospital to friends and family, 84% said definitely, 15 points above the state average of 69%.

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Rhode Island Hospital: #2

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Rhode Island Hospital ranked #2 in Providence as well as statewide in the new rankings.

Also a Lifespan hospital, the 383-bed RI Hospital was assessed by US News to be High-Performing in 3 specialties: Gastroenterology, Urology, and Nephrology. RI Hospital was not as popular among patients in the survey, however, scoring 67% on whether patients would recommend the hospital to friends or family, two points below the state average.

Women & Infants: #3

Recognized in US News & World Report as Best Hospital in Gynecology and Best Children's Hospital in Neonatology, the specialty hospital for women and newborns ranked #3 in the US News' Regional Rankings for 2013. Women & Infants was named a High-Performing Hospital on 2 adult specialties: Cancer and Gynecology. Eighty-five percent of patients said they would recommend Women & Infants to friends and family, the highest percentage among the Top 5 hospitals in the state.

Newport and Southcoast Hospitals: #4

The 119-bed general medical and surgical hospital in Newport took its #4 ranking and scored as High Performing in Geriatrics. Seventy-four percent of patients said they would recommend the hospital to friends and family. In the Providence metropolitan area (which includes Pawtucket, Fall River and New Bedford) Newport Hospital tied with Southcoast Hospitals Group in Fall River, which was named High Performing in Pulmonology. (Southcoast ranked #19 in Massachusetts; for more on the MA hospital rankings, go here).

How they got the rankings

US News applies the same methodology behind the 2012-13 Best Hospitals national rankings to recognize Best Regional Hospitals. Now in its 23rd year, "Best Hospitals' central mission remains unchanged," according to US News, "to help those who need an unusual degree of skilled inpatient care decide where to get it, especially when there's time to make a choice."

To be nationally ranked, a hospital must excel across a range of tough cases within a given specialty. For example, a hospital nationally ranked in cardiology and heart surgery—one of 16 specialties in which US News evaluates medical centers—can be expected to have doctors with the talent and experience to replace a faulty heart valve in a patient well into his or her 90s. "Most hospitals would decline to perform major surgery on such elderly patients, as they should if they aren't up to speed on the special techniques and precautions involved and don't see many such patients," according to US News. "A hospital ranked in gastroenterology can offer the most appropriate care to a patient whose severe inflammatory bowel disease flares up. At hospitals ranked in neurology and neurosurgery, surgeons face more spinal tumors in a couple of weeks than most community hospitals see in a year."

This year, only 148 of the 4,793 hospitals reviewed nationwide met such criteria and performed well enough to rank in even one specialty. And of the 148, just 17 qualified for a spot on the Honor Roll by ranking at or near the top in six or more specialties.

For more on the methodology, go here.

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