Ten medical specialties at UAB Hospital are ranked in the top 50 in the nation, according to the 2017-2018 Best Hospitals ranking from U.S. News & World Report. Four other specialties are listed as ‘high-performing,’ and UAB Hospital is again ranked as No. 1 in the state of Alabama.
“We are pleased that UAB Hospital continues to be recognized for providing world-class health care to the residents of our state, region and nation,” said Health System CEO Will Ferniany, Ph.D. “The consistent excellence of our faculty and staff is a reassuring constant during times of change and uncertainty in our country’s health care system. We are proud of our national rankings, and proud to be acknowledged as Alabama’s best hospital.”
The highest-ranked specialties are Rheumatology (10), Nephrology (14), Pulmonology (17) and Urology (20). Diabetes and Endocrinology (21), Gynecology (26), Cardiology and Heart Surgery (30), Neurology and Neurosurgery (34), Geriatrics (47), and Ear, Nose and Throat (50) are UAB’s other highly ranked specialties. Orthopedics, Cancer, Rehabilitation, and Gastroenterology/GI Surgery are listed as high-performing by U.S. News.
Eight UAB programs moved up in the rankings. Geriatrics earned a top 50 ranking for the first time, while Urology, Pulmonology, Cardiology, and Diabetes and Endocrinology had the largest jumps in the rankings. Gastroenterology/GI Surgery moved into the high-performing category.
The magazine also lauds UAB for high performance in seven adult procedures/conditions: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic valve surgery, colon cancer surgery and lung cancer surgery.
Rankings like U.S. News & World Report’s are just one tool available to patients as they make informed decisions about their health care. UAB Medicine recently launched its Find a Provider directory, a reliable source of verified and up-to-date information garnered from actual patients. The rating and reviews feature gives patients an alternative to third-party rating sites. More than 79 percent of eligible UAB physicians had a posted rating of at least four stars on the five-star scale.
According to the magazine’s published methodology, the ranking for 12 of the categories is based on reputation, mortality, patient safety, and a mix of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The 50 hospitals in each of these specialties with the highest scores are listed. Rankings for ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology are based strictly on reputational scores,
The complete rankings and methodology are available online.