Named the #1 hospital in Maryland and #4 in the nation on the 2016–17 Best Hospitals list

Out of nearly 5,000 hospitals reviewed, The Johns Hopkins Hospital ranked #1 in Maryland and #4 in the nation in the U.S. News & World Report annual Best Hospitals list. Ten specialties at The Johns Hopkins Hospital are now among the top five in the nation, an improvement from last year. Fourteen specialties are in the top 10.

In a note to Johns Hopkins employees, Paul B. Rothman, M.D., dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and Ronald R. Peterson, president of the Johns Hopkins Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine, credited nurses, physicians and staff members for the national recognition. “It is thanks to our employees that Johns Hopkins’ legacy of clinical excellence and patient- and family-centered care continues to flourish,” they wrote. “The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s record as a U.S. News & World Report Best Hospital over the past 27 years is unparalleled.”

The Johns Hopkins Hospital earned the #1 ranking for 22 years, including an unprecedented 21 years in a row from 1991 to 2011. Rothman and Peterson congratulated Mayo Clinic for ranking #1 this year. “We are honored to be among all the hospitals that made the list and, like us, continue to improve care for the people in our local communities and around the world,” they said.

In addition to landing in the #4 spot on U.S. News’ Best Hospitals list, the hospital ranked #1 in Rheumatology; #2 in Neurology & Neurosurgery; #3 in Ear, Nose & Throat, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, and Ophthalmology; #4 in Diabetes & Endocrinology, Geriatrics, Psychiatry and Urology; and #5 in Nephrology.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital was also rated high performing in many common hospital procedures that are now included as part of the Best Hospitals methodology.

Three of the Johns Hopkins Medicine member hospitals were recognized in the regional rankings. The Johns Hopkins Hospital ranked #1 in all specialties in Maryland and in Baltimore. Suburban Hospital ranked #11 in Maryland and #6 in the Washington, D.C., area. Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center ranked #13 in Maryland and #11 in Baltimore. 

“While we are proud to be positioned again among the best in the nation by U.S. News, we would be remiss if we did not mention the important effects of the ever-changing methodology used for the annual rankings,” Rothman and Peterson wrote.

Once again this year, U.S. News made significant changes to the way the Best Hospitals list is computed. Two of these changes had a significant impact on The Johns Hopkins Hospital. One was the way points are calculated and allocated for each specialty. The other was the inclusion of hip and knee replacements, which are mostly performed at member hospital Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, rather than at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Rothman, Peterson and other leaders at Johns Hopkins have been working with U.S. News to support the use of data that are relevant to Maryland hospitals and to continue to improve the rigor with which data are evaluated.

“What is most important is that our patients and the care they receive remain our top priorities,” they wrote. “We look forward to our collective focus on continued improvements.”

For more details about the ranking methodology, please visit the U.S. News website.