Best U.S. Hospitals

For the 19th year, U.S. News & World Report Magazine has issued its ranking of the best hospitals in America. Extensive number crunching leads to their decisions, and from that emerges an honor roll list of the top 19. In addition to the list of best overall hospitals, the magazine also ranks the nation’s hospitals in 16 specialty areas, such as cancer treatment (University of Texas M.D Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is atop the list) and treatment of heart disease (Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio is #1).

They also list the top pediatric hospitals in America (Children’s Hospital of Philadephia is tops in “general pediatrics,”) and break pediatric hospital rankings into six specialty areas as well.

In addition to their listings, and explanations of their methodology, the magazine has articles and photo essays about top hospitals and medical care. Out of 5,453 hospitals nationwide, only 170 make the cut to appear on any of the magazine’s lists.

The magazine’s top 19 American hospitals (which scored high rankings in six or more specialty areas) are:

1. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore (pictured)

2. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

3. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles

4. Cleveland Clinic

5. Massachusetts General in Boston

6. New York Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell

7. University of California, San Francisco Medical Center

8. Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston

tie for 8. Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

10. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia

tie for 10. University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle

12. Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University in St. Louis

13. University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers in Ann Arbor, Mich.

14. UPMC, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

15. Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville

16. Stanford Hospital and Clinics in Stanford, Calif.

17. University of Chicago Medical Center

18. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles

19. Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn.

Within the U.S. News & World Report list, each hospital named is linked to a more detailed page about that hospital and its qualifications. For the entire report, including podcasts, video and audio, as well as lots of other detailed health information, including all lists and stories from the magazine, check here.