US News & World Report released its annual list of the best hospitals in the United States, and two from Boston made the cut for the third year in a row.
Massachusetts General Hospital was ranked fifth overall in the nation, while Brigham and Women’s ranked 14th. Both medical centers — which are part of Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare) — join Boston Children’s Hospital, which US News recently recognized as the No. 1 children’s hospital in the country.
The top-rated hospital this year, according to US News, was the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., followed by the Cleveland Clinic, UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
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Among specialties, MGH ranked second in the nation for diabetes and endocrinology, and second in the nation for ear, nose, and throat care. McLean Hospital in Belmont was ranked second in the nation for psychiatry, while MGH was ranked third. Spaulding Rehabilitation Center in Charlestown was ranked third in the nation for rehabilitation.
This year’s list of US News & World Report’s best hospitals:
1. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.
2. Cleveland Clinic
3. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
4. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
5. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
6. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
7. New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, New York
8. NYU Langone Hospitals, New York
9. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
11. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor
12. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, Calif.
13. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
14. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
15. Mayo Clinic-Phoenix
16. Houston Methodist Hospital
17. Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis
17. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
19. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
20. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville
The 2021-22 rankings evaluated nearly every community inpatient hospital in America, and drew from a universe of 4,523 facilities, according to the US News & World Report’s methodology.
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Each hospital received a score from 0 to 100 based on patient outcomes (patient survival rate and rate at which patients were able to return home rather than needing additional care), patient experience, nurse staffing and breadth of patient services, and expert opinion obtained through physician survey.
The report, which has been running for over 30 years, is a tool to help guide patients — in consultation with their doctors — to the right hospital when they need care. The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of high-quality health care, the report said.
US News noted that for most illnesses, patients do not need to go to a top-rated hospital, which may require traveling away from home and paying expenses for out-of-network care. All rankings “should be seen as just a starting point for patients who are considering, with input from their doctors, where to seek care,” the report said.
Hospitals are ranked based on 17 common procedures, such as knee replacement and heart bypass surgery. Seven new procedures were added this year, including back surgery and treatment for diabetes, heart attack, hip fracture, kidney failure, pneumonia, and stroke.
US News also ranks hospitals in 15 areas of complex specialty care. These ratings and rankings are based on each hospital’s patient outcomes.
US News warns that it’s not quite fair to compare previous year rankings with the newest list, since the methodology has been adjusted. That being said, MGH last year came in sixth, while Brigham and Women’s was ranked 12th. The year before that, MGH ranked second, and Brigham ranked 13th.
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In June, Boston Children’s Hospital claimed the top spot nationwide for pediatric medical centers for the eighth consecutive year, according to US News, with several of its specialties — including nephrology, neurology, and neurosurgery, pulmonary and lung surgery, and urology — claiming their own No. 1 rankings.
Brittany Bowker can be reached at brittany.bowker@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @brittbowker and on Instagram @brittbowker.