Illinois' Best Hospitals: Latest U.S. News Rankings

ILLINOIS — U.S. News & World Report has released its latest rankings of the best hospitals in the United States. Based on data that was derived before the coronavirus pandemic, the rankings do not show the virus's impact on hospitals nationwide.

"The pandemic has altered, perhaps permanently, how patients get care and from whom they get it. Amid the disruption, we are steadfastly committed to providing the public with authoritative data for comparing hospital quality," said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. "No hospital's clinical team came through this unprecedented health crisis unscathed."

In Illinois, two hospitals made U.S. News' Honor Roll of the top 20 — Northwestern Memorial and Rush University Medical Center, both in Chicago. Twenty-six hospitals made the state's best hospitals list.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was once again ranked as the best hospital in the nation.

U.S. News updated rankings for 16 medical specialties: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, psychiatry, pulmonology and lung surgery, rehabilitation, rheumatology and urology.

The hospital rankings for 2020-21 include the Honor Roll, top-ranked hospitals in 16 specialty categories, and the top-ranked hospitals by state and metro region.

Twelve of the specialty rankings — which cover categories such as cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology and nephrology — are determined mostly by data; the other four specialties — ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology — are determined entirely by expert opinion, U.S. News said.

Honor Roll Hospitals

U.S. News said the hospitals that make the Honor Roll deliver exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care.

"The Honor Roll is geared to identifying hospitals that are both exceptionally good at the service they offer and offer a wide breadth of service," Harder told Patch last year, explaining that by definition, that means hospitals that are highly ranked across many or most specialties.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota took the No.1 spot on the 2020-21 Honor Roll, followed by the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, and the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles rounded out the top five on the Honor Roll.

The remaining Honor Roll hospitals were:

• 6. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
• 7. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, San Francisco
• 8. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
• 9. NYU Langone Hospitals, New York, N.Y.
• 10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
• 11. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor
• 12. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
• 13. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, California
• 14. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
• 15. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia
• 16. Mayo Clinic — Phoenix
• 17. Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
• 18. Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Saint Louis (tie)
• 18. Keck Medical Center of USC, Los Angeles (tie)
• 20. Houston Methodist Hospital

Regional Hospital Rankings

In Illinois, the top-ranked hospitals were:

• 1. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, ranked in 11 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 2. Rush University Medical Center, ranked in 11 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 3. University of Chicago Medical Center, ranked in 9 adult specialties, rated high performing in 2 specialties
• 4. Loyola University Medical Center, ranked in 5 adult specialties, rated high performing in 5 specialties
• 5. Advocate Christ Medical Center, ranked in 1 adult specialty, rated high performing in 7 specialties
• 6. NorthShore University HealthSystem-Metro Chicago, ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 6 specialties
• 7. Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, ranked in 1 adult specialty, rated high performing in 6 specialties
• 8. Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 9. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 4 specialties
• 9. Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital (tie), ranked in 2 adult specialties, rated high performing in 3 specialties
• 9. Edward Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 4 specialties
• 12. OSF Healthcare St. Francis Medical Center, ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 13. Carle Foundation Hospital, ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 3 specialties
• 14 . Advocate Sherman Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 3 specialties
• 14 . Memorial Medical Center-Springfield (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 16. Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 2 specialties
• 16. Elmhurst Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 18. Palos Community Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 18. Amita Health Elk Grove Village (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 18. Amita Health Adventist Medical Center-Hinsdale (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 1 specialty
• 18. Northwest Community Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 18. Swedish American Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 23. Blessing Hospital (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 23. Rush-Copley Medical Center (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 23. Northwestern Medicine-McHenry, Huntley, Woodstock Hospitals (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 23. UnityPoint Health-Peoria (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties
• 23. OSF St. Anthony Medical Center (tie), ranked in 0 adult specialties, rated high performing in 0 specialties

The 16 specialties that hospitals were ranked for are: cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, diabetes and endocrinology, ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, psychiatry, pulmonology and lung surgery, rehabilitation, rheumatology and urology.

This year, the U.S. News rankings are accompanied by their "Hospital Heroes" project, a series of profiles highlighting more than 60 health care heroes from across the country.

"Our Hospital Heroes series is a tribute to recognizing individuals at urban and rural hospitals in communities across the country who have gone above and beyond during this unparalleled time in history," Harder said.

Methodology

U.S. News & World Report said the 2020-21 rankings evaluated nearly every community hospital in America. Only 134 hospitals out of over 4,500 were ranked in one specialty, while 563 hospitals were ranked among the best regional hospitals. A hospital was ranked regionally based on its performance in delivering complex and common care, U.S. News said. The rankings are jointly produced by U.S. News and RTI International, a North Carolina-based research organization. (Read the full U.S. News best hospitals methodology.)