Mayo Clinic ranks No. 3

By Jeff Kiger

July 16, 2013 at 5:19 PM

Mayo Clinic was ranked as the third best hospital system in the country by U.S. News & World Report rankings released this morning, with just Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston ranked ahead of it.

Mayo Clinic scored just one point below Johns Hopkins with a score of 29. Massachusetts General also scored 29, but it scored high in 16 specialties compared to Mayo Clinic's 15 to win the second place ranking.

This is the third year Mayo Clinic has been ranked in the third spot. Johns Hopkins reclaimed No. 1 after being displaced by Massachusetts General in 2012, after 21 year consecutive years at the top of the list.

The magazine ranked Cleveland Clinic at fourth. Cleveland had a score of 27 with 14 areas of specialty ranked high.

U.S. News & World Report's Honor Roll recognizes medical centers with exceptionally high expertise across multiple specialties. Centers must rank at or near the top in at least six of 16 specialties. Just 18 of the hospitals evaluated made the magazine's Honor Roll.

"U.S. News bases the rankings mostly on objective data on hospital performance, such as patient survival rates, and structural resources, such as nurse staffing levels," it says. "Each hospital's reputation, as determined by a survey of physician specialists, is also a factor determining each hospital's rankings."

In the individual specialties, Mayo Clinic ranked number one in five areas — gynecology, diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology and pulmonology. That's more No. 1s than any other hospitals on the list.

Mayo ranked second in five other specialties — cardiology and heart surgery, ear, nose and throat, geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery as well as orthopedics.

On the state levels, Mayo Clinic ranked No. 1 in Minnesota and Arizona. It ranked fourth in Florida.

• 1 - Diabetes & Endocrinology

• 1 - Gastroenterology and GI Surgery

• 1 - Nephrology

• 1 - Pulmonology

• 1 - Gynecology

• 2 - Cardiology and Heart Surgery

• 2 - Ear, Nose and Throat

• 2 - Geriatrics

• 2 - Orthopedics

• 2 - Neurology and Neurosurgery

• 3 - Cancer