U.S. News & World Report has been ranking hospitals according to their excellence across various medical specialties for 26 years, but Tuesday the company held its first-ever awards ceremony for hospitals that are ranked in the top tier, known as the “Honor Roll.”
“We decided to take an opportunity to put focus on the incredible work these folks are doing,” Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer for U.S. News, said at the ceremony, which took place in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.
The No. 1 Honor Roll Hospitals for adult and pediatric care are located in Boston, and were presented by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
Markey presented the award for being ranked No. 1 in the Honor Roll of Best Hospitals to Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Peter Slavin, the hospital’s president, accepted the award.Â
Markey noted the hospital’s commitment to staff diversity and the LGBT community, and the STEM programs it runs for high school students. “The only thing [Mass General] isn’t No. 1 in is avoiding accolades,” he said.
Slavin cited other excellent hospitals that have won the top spot in the past, including Johns Hopkins and Mayo Clinic. “We view them as allies against the real enemies,” citing complex conditions such as cancer and other illnesses.
The 2015-16 Honor Roll hospitals, of which there are 15 this year, achieved high scores in at least six of the 16 Best Hospitals specialty rankings. The hospitals are:
1. Massachusetts General Hospital
2. Mayo Clinic
3 (tie). Johns Hopkins Hospital
3 (tie). UCLA Medical Center
5. Cleveland Clinic
6. Brigham and Women’s Hospital
7. New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
8. UCSF Medical Center
9. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian
10. Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University
11. Northwestern Memorial Hospital
12. NYU Langone Medical Center
13. UPMC-University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
14. Duke University Hospital
15. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital
Brett Ziegler for USN&WR
NYU Langone Medical Center is on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll.
Markey next presented the No. 1 Honor Roll Best Hospital award to Boston Children’s Hospital, which was accepted by John Brownstein, chief innovation officer for the hospital.
“We are not only the ‘Bay State’ but the ‘Brain State,'” Markey said of the two hospitals in Massachusetts receiving the top award.
Brownstein spoke about the hospital’s commitment to research and groundbreaking care. “We are focused on the future and where hospitals need to go,” he said. “We firmly believe that the digital experience is going to transform the hospital of the future.”
The 2015-16 Honor Roll hospitals for pediatrics, of which there are 12 this year, achieved high scores in at least three of the 10 Best Hospitals pediatric specialty rankings. The hospitals are:
1. Boston Children’s Hospital
2. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
3. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
4. Texas Children’s Hospital
5. Children’s Hospital Colorado
6. Seattle Children’s Hospital
7. Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
8. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC
9. Nationwide Children’s Hospital
10. Children’s National Medical Center
11 (tie). Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
11 (tie). Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta