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Health & Fitness

Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital Ranks Highest of Lake County Hospitals by US News' and World Report

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare is pleased to announce that both Northwestern Memorial and Northwestern Lake Forest hospitals continue to earn national recognition as part of the U.S. News & World Report ranking of America’s Best Hospitals.

Northwestern Lake Forest ranked No. 21 in Illinois, No. 19 in the Chicago metro rankings, and was noted as high-performing in the categories of gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, and orthopaedics. These placements make it the highest ranked hospital in Lake County. 

 

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Northwestern Memorial climbed six places to 6th in the nation on the publisher’s most exclusive ranking: the Best Hospitals 2013-14 Honor Roll. This is up from 12th on last year’s 2012-13 honor roll.  Northwestern Memorial continued its second year as the only hospital in Illinois to make this prestigious ranking, and continues to be No. 1 in Illinois and the Chicago metro area, rankings we’ve held since U.S. News introduced its state and local rankings two years ago. 

                                                                                                                         

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“It is humbling to be ranked on the Honor Roll by U.S. News with so many of the nation’s best hospitals,” said Dean M. Harrison, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare’s president and CEO.  “Although we will celebrate this achievement, we recognize there is still opportunity for improvement and will remain focused on advancing innovations in patient care and medical research to support the communities we’re so privileged to serve.”  

 

Only a handful of U.S. hospitals make the Honor Roll each year. This year’s Honor Roll highlights just 18 hospitals, of which Northwestern Memorial ranks 6th, out of nearly 5,000 nationwide for their rare breadth and depth of clinical excellence. The annual Best Hospitals rankings, now in its 24th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients. In addition to citing its Honor Roll, U.S. News evaluates hospitals within 16 adult specialties. In most specialties it ranks the nation’s top 50 hospitals and recognizes others as “High Performing”. The 16 specialties include cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, kidney disorders, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, psychiatry, pulmonology, rehabilitation, rheumatology and urology.  

 

Northwestern Memorial is recognized in 14 of those specialties—five of which are top 10 placements and two of which are listed as high-performing. Those rankings are as follows: cancer (14), cardiology and heart surgery (12), diabetes and endocrinology (9), ear, nose and throat (17), gastroenterology and GI surgery (10), geriatrics (11), gynecology (11), nephrology (14), neurology and neurosurgery (7), orthopaedics (7), pulmonology (13), urology (9) and ophthalmology and rheumatology are both high-performing. 

  

Objective measures including patient survival and safety data, the adequacy of nurse staffing levels and other data largely determined the rankings in most specialties. Just 147 hospitals, only about 3 percent of those in the U.S., earned a national ranking one or more specialties and only those ranking very highly in at least six specialties made the Honor Roll.

 

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News 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 metro rankings. The rankings have been published at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2014 guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands August 27. 

 

To learn more about programs and services or to schedule an appointment at either Northwestern Memorial or Northwestern Lake Forest, please call us at 312-926-0779 or visit us online at www.northwesternmedicine.org.  

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