University of Colorado Hospital Once Again Ranks Among Nation's Best in 2007

CONTACT:

Tonya Ewers

Tel: 303.724.1520

Email: tonya.ewers@uchsc.edu

Hospital is named as one of the best in seven specialties - more than any other hospital in Colorado

AURORA, Colo. (July 13, 2007) – University of Colorado Hospital is once again among the nation’s best health care centers, ranking in seven of 16 specialties and reaching top-20 status in three categories, including seventh nationwide for the treatment of patients with respiratory disorders, according to the latest "America’s Best Hospitals" survey by U.S.News & World Report.

U.S.News & World Report cited University of Colorado Hospital (UCH) as one of the best hospitals in the nation for cancer, endocrinology, gynecology, kidney disease, respiratory disorders, rehabilitation medicine, and neurology and neurosurgery. It is the 14th consecutive year the magazine has listed the hospital as among the nation’s elite in various specialties.

According to U.S.News & World Report, the goal of the rankings is "to identify facilities that excel at treating a variety of demanding illnesses and procedures within a specialty, not just a few."

Out of 5,462 U.S. hospitals, only 3 percent, or 173 in all, met this demand, and were ranked in one or more of the 16 categories in this year’s rankings. UCH was the only hospital in the Denver area to be recognized in more than one specialty. Craig Hospital and National Jewish Medical & Research Center were each cited for one of their specialties.

In this year’s survey, University of Colorado Hospital ranked among the best in the following seven categories: respiratory disorders, seventh nationwide; kidney disease, 13th; endocrinology/diabetes, 18th; gynecology, 21st; rehabilitation medicine, 22nd; cancer, 35th; and neurology and neurosurgery, 42nd.

The magazine has issued its annual survey of American hospitals since 1990 in an effort to identify the nation’s top health care centers.

"The dedication and hard work of all our physicians, staff, nurses, administrators and support staff are reflected in each and every ranking we receive year after year," said University of Colorado Hospital President and CEO Bruce Schroffel. "This type of national recognition reinforces our mission to provide the best possible health care to our patients as a world-class teaching hospital for the people of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Region."

The magazine used hospital reputation, mortality data, and quality-of-care measures such as patient volume, nurse-to-patient ratios and availability of advanced medical technologies to determine a hospital’s overall performance.

It used data to rank the hospitals in 12 of the 16 specialties it evaluated. In the other four specialties – rehabilitation, rheumatology, ophthalmology, and psychiatry – ranking was determined by physician surveys and the overall reputation of the specialty at the eligible hospitals. The reasoning behind the reputation rankings was that mortality data are less relevant or unreliable in those four specialties.

Initial eligibility for the data-driven specialties required a hospital to meet three standards, including membership in the Council for Teaching Hospitals, affiliation with a medical school, and availability of at least six out of 13 key technologies such as image guided radiation therapy or robotic surgery. This year, two-thirds of all hospitals were ineligible for the rankings because they did not have membership in the Council for Teaching Hospitals.

U.S. News & World Report’s 2007 "America’s Best Hospitals" report will be featured in the magazine’s print edition, which will be available on newsstands on Monday, July 16.

The University of Colorado Hospital is the Rocky Mountain region's leading academic medical center, and has been recognized as one of the United States’ best hospitals, according to U.S.News & World Report. It is best known as an innovator in patient care and often as one of the first hospitals to bring new medicine to patients’ bedsides. Located in Denver and at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo., the hospital is affiliated with the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, one of three universities in the University of Colorado system. For more information, visit the Web site at www.uch.edu or the UCDHSC Newsroom at http://www.uchsc.edu/news.