What Makes a Top 100 Hospital

For people facing serious or complicated medical problems, choosing the right hospital can be a critical factor in determining a successful outcome. Until 1990, when U.S. News & World Report introduced “Best Hospitals,” would-be patients had little information, beyond a doctor’s recommendation, to help them consider the facts on choosing a medical facility. Fortunately, “Best Hospitals”, together with enhanced internet search capability, now empowers health consumers to explore not only which facility can provide the highest standards in care and safety, but also who ranks the highest among the country’s top hospitals.

There is no one metric placing one hospital over another, rather, it is a combination of factors which enable consumers to weigh a hospital's performance against the national average or a local competitor.  According to an article in U.S. News & World on the methodology behind “Best Hospitals” rankings, to be nationally ranked in the top 100, a hospital must excel across a range of factors within sixteen medical specialties (Comarow, 2012). In 12 of the 16 specialties, a hospital's ranking depends largely on objective data, much of which comes from the federal government. Many categories of data go into the rankings, including a hospital's death rates, volume of patients, the balance of nurses and patients, and quality and range of patient services. A survey of physicians, who are asked to name hospitals they consider tops in their specialty, produces a reputation score that is also factored in (Comarow, 2012). The intent of this paper is to determine the many factors which place a hospital in the top 100 by delving into some of the reasons Johns Hopkins is the only hospital in history to have been ranked number one in the nation 21 years in a row by U.S. News & World.

The Johns Hopkins Hospital, based in Baltimore, Maryland, is one of the leading medical facilities in the United States. From its opening in 1889, to present...