For the fifth consecutive year U.S. News & World Report has ranked Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) the Number 1 hospital in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and its urology program among the nation’s top 50.
“We are heartened to be recognized as the best hospital in the region for five years in a row,” says Kerry Heinrich, interim CEO of LLUMC, “and for our urology department to be ranked among the best in the United States.
“This recognition is a testament to the commitment, hard work, and caring of our doctors and staff to provide the best possible whole-person care for our patients, and upholds our mission of continuing the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ.”
LLUMC is also ranked 14th best in California, and, in addition to its urology department named among the best in the United States, is also recognized for 11 high performing specialties: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology and GI surgery; geriatrics; gynecology; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; orthopedics; and pulmonology.
“We are pleased that this recognition reflects positively on the commitment of the urology department, and the institution as a whole, to delivering excellent, whole person, patient-centered care,” says Herbert Ruckle, MD, chair of the urology department. “Our department combines the delivery of comprehensive and cutting edge urology care with research and medical education. As a department we have grown to where we have urology faculty in all of the urology sub-specialties and are a valuable resource for the people in our region suffering from both simple and complex urologic disease.
“The focus of LLUMC and the department of urology on providing compassionate, evidence-based care and on healing the whole person is something we are proud of and is very appreciated by our patients.”
U.S. News evaluated hospitals in 16 adult specialties and ranked the top 50 in most of the specialties. Just 3 percent of the nearly 5,000 hospitals that were analyzed for Best Hospitals 2014-15 earned national ranking in even one specialty.
“The data tell the story – a hospital that emerged from our analysis as one of the best has much to be proud of,” says Avery Comarow, U.S. News Health Rankings editor. “A Best Hospital has demonstrated its expertise in treating the most challenging patients.”
U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition or extra risk because of age or multiple health problems. Objective measures such as patient survival and safety data, adequacy of nurse staffing levels, and other data largely determined the rankings in most specialties.
The rankings are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2015” guidebook, available in August.