Holmes Brevard’s Top Hospital In U.S. News Ranking

EDITOR’S NOTE: This report from Health News Florida features this year’s U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of the nation’s Best Hospitals and highlights the high ranking Florida hospitals.  

Of the 11 hospitals in the Brevard County region, Health First’s Holmes Regional Medical Center was recognized as the region’s top performer.

—Dr. Jim Palermo, Editor-in-Chief

HEALTH NEWS FLORIDA — Florida’s largest hospital is also its best, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals ranking announced today.

Florida Hospital in Orlando earned the state’s top spot by ranking nationally in 10 of 16 specialties evaluated in the annual report.   With 1,972 beds, the hospital is the largest in Florida and second-largest in the nation, according to Beck’s Hospital Review.

Thirty-three Florida hospitals were included in the 25th edition of the U.S. Newsrankings, one of many annual reports grading medical centers and how well they care for patients.  The reports don’t always agree, since they use different methods for developing rankings.

Overall, only 144 U.S. hospitals of the 4,743 in the survey performed well enough to be nationally ranked, though 581 were named regional high performers.

All 33 Florida hospitals in this year’s list earned the latter recognition, which means the hospital scored in the top 25 percent of eligible facilities in at least one medical specialty.

However, no Florida hospitals made U.S. New’s 17-hospital Honor Roll, for facilities that ranked at or near the top in six or more of the 16 specialties. That list is led by nationally renowned programs, including Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Florida’s Top 10, with its high-ranking specialties are:

1.    Florida Hospital, Orlando: Cancer, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Gynecology, Nephrology, Neurology, Pulmonology, Urology

2.    Tampa General Hospital: Cardiology, Nephrology, Orthopedics, Urology

3.    Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville: Cardiology, Nephrology, Pulmonology

4.    Baptist Medical Center, Jacksonville: Endocrinology

5.    Sarasota Memorial Hospital, Sarasota: Gynecology

6.    Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa: Cancer

7.    Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami: Ophthalmology

8.    Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville: (no specialties in Top 50)

9.    Baptist Hospital of Miami: (no specialties in Top 50)

10. Orlando Regional Medical Center: (no specialties in Top 50)

See a complete list of Florida hospitals here.

Scores for the U.S. News ranking are determined using a set of objective and subjective criteria, including patient survival and safety information from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ MedPAR data base.

It also uses data from the American Hospital Association and other professional organizations.

The U.S. News ranking uses a subjective, annual reputation ranking of hospitals by physicians for more than 25 percent of a hospital’s score. This feedback – of the top five hospitals in a doctor’s specialty – is part of the overall score, and it’s the main source of information for ranking four of the 16 specialty areas.

This year, U.S. News did decrease the value of the doctor survey, from 33 to 28 percent. Patient safety, a data-driven category, increased in value, from 5 to 10 percent.

– Health News Florida is part of WUSF Public Media. Contact Reporter Mary Shedden at 813-974-8636, on Twitter @MaryShedden, or email atshedden@wusf.org

For more health news, visit  HealthNewsFlorida.org