Oak Lawn, Illinois – For the second year in a row, Advocate Christ Medical Center has been recognized as being among the top 50 hospitals in the nation for cardiology and heart surgery and for geriatric medicine, according to the “Best Hospitals 2013-14” rankings released today (July 16) by U.S. News and World Report. Now in their 24th year, the U.S. News “Best Hospitals” rankings recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients.
The medical center also has been rated third overall among hospitals in the Chicago metropolitan area and the entire state of Illinois and cited as a “high performer” in 10 other clinical areas: cancer; diabetes and endocrinology; treatment of ear, nose and throat disorders; gastroenterology; gynecology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; pulmonology; and urology.
U.S. News & World Report evaluates hospitals in 16 adult specialties. In most specialties, it ranks the nation’s top 50 hospitals and recognizes other high-performing hospitals that provide care at nearly the level of their nationally ranked peers.
Details regarding the 2013-14 U.S. News hospital rankings are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals. The rankings also will be published in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2014” guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands at the end of August.
Announcement of the medical center’s inclusion in the U.S. News rankings follows its selection earlier this year to Truven Health Analytics’ 2013 list of 100 Top Hospitals®. This is the second year in a row in which Christ Medical Center has been named by Truven Health as being among the nation’s leading hospitals for performance. The campus was one of only seven hospitals in Illinois – and one of only five major teaching hospitals in the state – to make the top 100 list for 2013.
“We have more than 1,000 physicians and nearly 6,000 associates working together every day to ensure our patients receive the very best in clinical quality and compassionate care. Their amazing passion for excellence and commitment to our ministry of healing has truly made a difference in the lives of the thousands of patients whom we serve every day. They are why our medical center is listed among the nation’s very best major teaching hospitals in terms of health outcomes, patient satisfaction and overall quality,” said Ken Lukhard, president of Christ Medical Center.
“A hospital that emerges from our analysis as one of the best has much to be proud of,” said U.S. News Health Ranking Editor Avery Comarow. “Only about 15 percent of hospitals are recognized for their high performance as among their region’s best. Just 3 percent of all hospitals earn a national ranking in any specialty.”
U.S. News & World Report published “Best Hospitals” to help guide patients who need a higher level of care because they require particularly difficult surgery, face a challenging condition or have added risk because of other health problems or age. Objective measures, such as patient survival and safety data and the adequacy of nurse staffing levels, largely determined the rankings in most specialties.
The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News & World Report by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metropolitan region rankings
“The path to excellence is not easy,” said Dr. William Adair, vice president for clinical transformation at Advocate Christ Medical Center. “As a quaternary/tertiary-care medical center, we are constantly challenged by the volume of patients needing care and the complexity of their illnesses and injuries. However, the recognition accorded us as a leader among hospitals in the state and nation affirms that we continue to move in the right direction, that our commitment to providing the very best in care as a high reliability organization is proving successful.”
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About Advocate Christ Medical Center
Advocate Christ Medical Center is part of Advocate Health Care, which is one of the nation’s leading health care networks. A not-for-profit, 690-bed, premier teaching institution with nearly 1,000 affiliated physicians, Christ Medical Center is a leader in health care and one of the major referral hospitals in the Midwest in a number of specialties, including cardiovascular services, heart and kidney transplantation, neurosciences, oncology, orthopedics, pediatrics and women’s health. The hospital also has one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in Illinois providing emergency care for more than 90,000 patient visits annually and is a leader in breakthrough technologies, including eICU® (electronic intensive care unit) monitoring, robotic da Vinci Surgery System® and CyberKnife® Radiosurgery. The hospital was named to the 2012 Thomson Reuters list of 100 Top Hospitals®, and is recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) as a Magnet Center. Magnet status represents the highest honor in the nursing profession. To obtain more information or to visit our newsroom, log on to: www.advocatehealth.com/christ.