Rush Ranked Among Nation's Best in Five Specialties by U.S. News

U.S. News & World Report ranked five specialty care programs at Rush University Medical Center among the best in the country — with two in the top 10 nationwide — in the annual “Best Hospitals” issue, published today. The Medical Center’s orthopedics program was ranked seventh in the country and remains the highest-ranked orthopedics program in Illinois. The gynecology program also is the highest ranked statewide in this specialty.

The following Rush programs were included in the rankings:

• Orthopedics — 7th
• Neurology and Neurosurgery — 8^th
• Gynecology — 14th
• Geriatrics — 19th
• Kidney Disease (Nephrology) — 49th

Rush remains among a small group of hospitals that ranked highly in multiple specialties. Only 166 of the nearly 3,000 hospitals in the United States that U.S. News evaluated — about 5.5 percent — scored high enough for U.S. News to rank them nationally in even one specialty.

In addition to the national rankings of these five programs, U.S. News gave Rush “High Performing” status in the following programs: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, and gastroenterology and GI surgery.

All three Rush system hospitals also were recognized as high performing for specific procedures and conditions that U.S. News evaluates. Rush University Medical Center was rated high performing for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), colon cancer surgery, heart failure, hip replacement, knee replacement and lung cancer surgery. Rush Copley Medical Center was rated high performing for COPD, heart failure and knee replacement, and Rush Oak Park Hospital is rated high performing for heart failure.

This year, U.S. News made significant changes to the methodology it uses to create its rankings, which in turn caused changes in how hospitals across the country were ranked. For example, U.S. News decreased the weight it assigns to patient survival rates, an area where Rush University Medical Center excels.

This year’s rankings also put more emphasis on the rates of patients who go home directly from leaving the hospital rather than to a care facility. Rush has higher rates of the latter patients than other hospitals because a larger percentage of the Medical Center’s patients are extremely sick with complex conditions that make it necessary for them to receive assistance after their hospitalization.

“Hospital rating systems change from year to year, and hospitals’ performance on those ratings change with them. What doesn’t change is that Rush University Medical Center provides exceptional care that produces outstanding results for our patients,” says Dr. Omar Lateef, CEO of the Medical Center.

“It’s why no matter how ratings fluctuate, the Medical Center is recognized among the best hospitals locally, regionally and nationally. I thank our exceptional physicians, nurses, other care providers and colleagues in numerous other areas for all they do to deliver this very high level of compassionate care to our patients and their families.”

Rankings the latest in steady stream of honors for Rush

The U.S. News rankings are the latest in a consistent stream of honors for Rush University Medical Center and the other Rush system hospitals that are unique among U.S. academic health systems, including the following:

• All three Rush hospitals received four stars in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ latest Hospital Compare overall rating in February.
• In October, Rush University Medical Center was ranked second in the nation among 99 leading academic medical centers in the latest annual quality and accountability study conducted by Vizient Inc.
• Rush University Medical Center received its fourth consecutive Magnet designation, the highest honor in nursing, in January 2016, and Rush Oak Park Hospital received Magnet status in March of that year. Rush Copley Medical Center is working towards Magnet status.
• All three Rush hospitals have received the Beacon Award for Excellence by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, which honors intensive care unit nursing teams as being exceptional and in the top tier nationally.
• All three Rush hospitals repeatedly have received an ‘A’ grade for safety, the highest possible, from the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit patient safety watchdog organization. Rush Copley has received A grades each of the 14 times the Leapfrog Group has rated hospitals since June 2012. Rush University Medical Center previously has received 13 A grades, and Rush Oak Park Hospital has received seven.
• The Leapfrog Group also has named each of the Rush hospitals a Top Hospital (which is a different honor than Leapfrog’s safety grade), designating Rush University Medical Center a Top Teaching Hospital five times.
• In March, the Human Rights Campaign — a civil rights organization that advocates for equality for people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/or queer/questioning — named Rush University Medical Center a Leader in LGBT Health Equality for the tenth consecutive year. The HRC also named Rush Oak Park Hospital a leader for the fifth consecutive year. Rush Copley will receive the LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader designation in the forthcoming Healthcare Equality Index for 2019.
• Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital both have received the Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, which recognizes hospitals that provide an overall outstanding patient experience. Healthgrades evaluates patient experience performance by applying a scoring methodology to 10 patient experience measures, using data collected from the 32-question survey of the hospital’s own patients. Hospitals in the top 15 percent with the highest overall patient experience scores are recognized as Outstanding Patient Experience Award recipients.