By Emma Dugas, Vitals contributor
Over the past 30 years hospitals have had to meet a series of progressively tougher standards to earn a place on the annual U.S. News & World Report list of Best Hospitals in the United States.
This year is no exception.
Undaunted by need to compare nearly 4,750 hospitals nationwide across 15 specialties and 10 procedures and conditions last year, U.S. News reviewed eight additional clinical areas in the 2021-2022 edition, which was released today.
The expanded analysis covers how well hospital teams cared for heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, diabetes, hip fracture and kidney failure, and how well they performed in maternity care or a kind of back surgery called spinal fusion. Prior years included objective measures of quality in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and congestive heart failure, and in performing colon and lung cancer surgery, hip and knee replacement, aortic valve, transcatheter aortic valve and heart bypass surgery, among others. In total, hospitals were scored on 34 separate clinical areas this year, earning points for patient experience, patient outcomes, nursing quality and the adept use of technology.
All of this data allows U.S. News to compile both rankings (comparing one hospital’s performance to other hospitals) and ratings (comparing a hospital’s performance to a benchmark), with the goal of helping patients and families find the best healthcare. Hospitals that receive a state rank or earn recognition as a high performer in one or more of the clinical areas are recognized for their above average quality.
This year, 15 Sutter hospital campuses were recognized by U.S. News, and two were ranked among the best hospitals in California.
Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento was ranked 42nd in California and fourth in the Sacramento metro area. This facility was also recognized for high performance on ten clinical areas, including four areas that were new this year (stroke, heart attack, maternity care and spinal fusion) and six areas that have been scored before (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, hip replacement, aortic valve, transcatheter aortic valve and heart bypass surgery).
California Pacific Medical Center – Van Ness Campus was also highly ranked, coming in at 56th in the state and seventh in the San Francisco metro area and earning the high performer accolade in six clinical areas, including stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, colon cancer surgery, hip replacement and aortic valve surgery.
An additional 13 Sutter hospital campuses received the following “high performer” recognitions in one or more clinical areas:
- Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Alta Bates Campus | High-Performer in Hip Replacement
- Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Summit Campus | High-Performer in Stroke
- California Pacific Medical Center – Davies Campus | High-Performer in Stroke
- Eden Medical Center | High-Performer in Stroke
- Memorial Medical Center | High-Performer in COPD; Heart Attack; Stroke
- Mills-Peninsula Medical Center | High-Performer in Spinal Fusion; Hip Fracture; Stroke
- Stanislaus Surgical Hospital | High-Performer in Hip Replacement; Knee Replacement
- Sutter Amador Hospital | High-Performer in Stroke
- Sutter Delta Medical Center | High-Performer in Congestive Heart Failure; COPD; Heart Attack
- Sutter Maternity & Surgery Center of Santa Cruz | High-Performer in Spinal Fusion
- Sutter Roseville Medical Center | High-Performer in Spinal Fusion; COPD; Heart Attack; Lung Cancer Surgery; Stroke
- Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital | High-Performer in Spinal Fusion
- Sutter Surgical Hospital – North Valley | High-Performer in Spinal Fusion
