Best Hospitals for Kidney Disease 2006

What Hospitals Have the Best Reputation for Kidney Disease?

Introduction

The U.S. News and World Report ranks hospitals every year based on their reputation, mortality rate, and a mix of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The number one hospital, according to their ranking system, was John Hopkins Medical Center.

Results for 2006

1. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
2. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn
3. Cleveland Clinic
4. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
5. New York-Presbyterian Univ Hosp of Columbia and Cornell

Ranking Criteria Used

The rankings for each hospital are suppose to be based on “hard data” including:

• Reputation: They selected 200 kidney specialists from the American Medical Association's Master file of U.S.
  doctors. The doctors were mailed a survey that asked them to list the five hospitals that they felt were the best with particularly difficulty kidney disease cases. The results are expressed as the percentage of respondents name that particular hospital.
• Mortality: The death rate of Medicare patients with certain conditions was compared to the expected rate. The results are expressed as a ratio of the hospital’s rate versus the expected rate. The lower the score the better.
• Mix of Care-Related Factors: Other factors were looked such as the number of discharges, technology, patient/community services and nursing services, and whether it was a trauma center. These factors were not as important as reputation and mortality.