Morristown Medical Center, the flagship health facility for Atlantic Health System, was rated the number one hospital in New Jersey by U.S. News & World Report in its 2018-2019 Best Hospitals rankings, released today. The medical center was also rated one of the top 20 hospitals in the nation for Cardiology & Heart Surgery and top 50 hospitals in the nation for Gastroenterology & GI Surgery. It was also rated the number four hospital in the New York Metro area.
Morristown Medical Center was one of only 31 hospitals in the nation that was rated high performing (in the top ten percent of programs in the country) in eight conditions and procedures: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair, Aortic Valve Surgery, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure, Colon Cancer Surgery, Hip Replacement, Knee Replacement, and Lung Cancer Surgery. It was also recognized as a high-performing hospital in five specialties: Geriatrics, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology. Overlook Medical Center was rated regionally in three common adult procedure and conditions—Heart Failure, Colon Cancer Surgery, and COPD.
“The medical, clinical and support teams at Morristown Medical Center have worked diligently to implement strong safety measures, advance clinical excellence, enable more seamless transitions to home or other medical facilities, and ensure convenient access to quality medical care in our communities,” said Trish O’Keefe, PhD, RN, President, Morristown Medical Center said in a statement. “Being recognized as the top hospital in the state is an incredible testament to the work being done by our medical staff, team members, community partnerships, and innovative collaborations.”
Overlook Medical Center, also part of Atlantic Health System, finished eight overall in New Jersey for the second consecutive year, as well as again being recognized as a high-performing hospital in Neurology & Neurosurgery – placing it among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the country for that specialty.
Hackensack University Medical Center, the flagship hospital for the largest hospital system in New Jersey, ranked second in the state overall and 44th best in the nation in orthopedics. It ranked as high performing in eight specialty areas: cancer, endocrinology, geriatrics, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and urology. In the treatment and surgical categories, Hackensack was a high performer in lung cancer surgery, hip and knee replacements, colon cancer surgery, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), heart failure, and abdominal aortic aneurism repair.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, one of RWJBarnabas Health’s two flagship hospitals finished third in the state overall, scoring in six specialties: cancer, cardiology and cardiac surgery, geriatrics, nephrology, orthopedics and urology. It’s also a high performer in treating heart failure and COPD, and for performing aortic valve surgery, heart bypass surgery, colon cancer surgery and lung cancer surgery.
Rounding out the report’s Top 10 hospitals in New Jersey were: Hackensack Meridian Health Jersey Shore University Medical Center (4), AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center (5), Virtua Voorhees Hospital and Valley Hospital (tie, 6), Overlook Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Health Review Medical Center (tie, 8), and St. Barnabas Medical Center and Hunterdon Medical Center (tie, 10).
The annual Best Hospitals rankings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or for common elective procedures. The U.S. News Best Hospitals methodologies in most areas of care are based largely or entirely on objective measures such as risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety and quality of nursing, among other care-related indicators.
For the 2018-19 rankings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 medical centers nationwide in 25 specialties, procedures and conditions. In the 16 specialty areas, 158 hospitals were rated in at least one specialty. In rankings by state and metro area, U.S. News recognized hospitals as high performing across multiple areas of care.
