PITTSBURGH, Pa., July 23, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Four hospitals affiliated with the Allegheny Health Network have been lauded in the latest ranking of the country's best hospitals by U.S. News and World Report. Released online today and slated for publication in August, the U.S. News 2014-2015 Best Hospital's Guide recognizes Allegheny General Hospital (AGH), Forbes Hospital, Saint Vincent Hospital and West Penn Hospital as high performing medical centers across multiple clinical specialties.
"There is no higher priority at Allegheny Health Network than the quality and safety of the care that we provide to our patients, and we are extremely proud of our physicians, nurses and support staff for the outstanding skill and dedication they bring to the bedside and into our physician offices every day to help us fulfill that promise," said Tony Farah, MD, Allegheny Health Network's chief medical officer.
Just 752 of the nation's roughly 5,000 hospitals earn U.S. News' designation as a high performing medical center in the 2014-15 report.
AGH this year is recognized by U.S. News as a top performer in 10 clinical specialties, including orthopaedic surgery, gastroenterology & GI surgery, cancer, diabetes & endocrinology, cardiology & cardiac surgery, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology and urology.
West Penn Hospital is named a high performer in cancer, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery and urology.
Forbes Hospital in Monroeville is ranked as high-performing in cancer, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, pulmonology and urology.
Saint Vincent Hospital, Erie PA, is designated as a high performer in gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery and pulmonology.
The Best Hospitals rankings are intended to help patients with life-threatening or rare conditions identify hospitals that excel in treating the most difficult cases. Hospitals are ranked nationally in 16 specialties.
The rankings are based on a combination of objective clinical information gleaned from Medicare outcomes data and the annual American Hospital Association Survey - including patient mortality rates, patient safety scores, nurse-to-patient ratio, procedure volumes and technological capabilities - and a hospital's reputation score in each category as determined by a random, national survey of medical specialists across the country.
U.S. News made several changes to the Best Hospitals rankings methodology this year, including adding new data and greater emphasis on patient safety. Patient safety metrics now account for 10 percent of each hospital's overall score, in most specialties – twice as much as in past years.
The role of hospital reputation diminished by 5 percentage points this year.
"U.S. News strives to provide patients and their families with the most comprehensive data available on hospitals," said Avery Comarow, U.S. News health rankings editor. "With an estimated 400,000 deaths occurring in hospitals each year from medical errors, measuring safety performance is critical to understanding how well a hospital cares for its patients."
The research organization RTI International, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, conducted the physician survey and produced the Best Hospitals methodology and national rankings under contract with U.S. News.
Risk-adjusted survival rates, adequacy of nurse staffing and patient volume are among the array of data points on each ranked hospital that are freely available at http://www.usnews.com/best-hospitals
The complete U.S News hospital rankings and methodology are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.
This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/07/prweb12039847.htm