Best Hospitals In Massachusetts: U.S. News Rankings 2018-19

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U.S. News & World Report has released its rankings of the best hospitals in America for 2018-19, evaluating more than 4,500 hospitals in the country across 16 specialties and nine procedures and conditions. U.S. News also ranked the best hospitals in America by region.

Massachusetts General Hospital was ranked as the best in the state, followed by Brigham And Women's and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Mass. General was No. 4 on U.S. News's "honor roll" list of 20 hospitals nationwide noted for delivering “exceptional treatment across multiple areas of care.” Brigham and Women's was 20th on the honor roll.

U.S. News also highlighted Massachusetts hospitals that were nationally ranked in at least one speciality. The following 10 hospitals received the distinction:

  • Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge

  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston

  • Boston Children's Hospital, Boston

  • Brigham And Women's Hospital, Boston

  • Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston

  • Massachusetts Eye And Ear Infirmary, Boston

  • Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

  • McLean Hospital, Belmont

  • New England Baptist Hospital, Boston

  • Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown

In all, 158 hospitals in the country ranked nationally in at least one specialty and more than 1,100 hospitals were rated as "high performing" in at least one common procedure or condition. U.S. News explains that a high performing rating means a hospital was not nationally ranked but was significantly better than average in a specialty. A total of 29 hospitals were rated as high performing in all nine procedures and conditions, including Mass. General. Hospitals were not ranked numerically for procedures and conditions.

According to the ranking, here are the best hospitals in Massachusetts:

1.) Massachusetts General Hospital - Boston; Nationally ranked in 16 specialties and four adult specialties; high performing in nine procedures or conditions.

2.) Brigham and Women's Hospital - Boston; Nationally ranked in nine specialties and rated as high performing in three adult specialties and eight procedures or conditions.

3.) Baystate Medical Center - Springfield; High performing in five adult specialties and and seven procedures or conditions.

3.) Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - Boston; Nationally ranked in two specialities, high performing in three adult specialities and five procedures or conditions.

5.) Lahey Hospital and Medical Center - Burlington; High performing in two adult specialties and three procedures or conditions.

5.) Tufts Medical Center - Boston; High performing in two adult specialties and three procedures or conditions.

5.) UMass Memorial Medical Center - Worcester; High performing in five procedures or conditions.

8.) Boston Medical Center - Boston; High performing in three adult specialties and two procedures or conditions.

9.) Southcoast Charlton Memorial Hospital - Fall River; High performing in three procedures or conditions.

The hospitals that made the 2018-19 honor roll are:

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. (1)
Cleveland Clinic (2)
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore (3)
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston (4)
University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor (5)
UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco (6)
UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles (7)
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles (8)
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Stanford, Calif. (9)
New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, N.Y. (10)
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis (11)
Mayo Clinic Phoenix (11)
Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago (13)
Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian, Philadelphia (14)
NYU Langone Hospitals, New York (15)
UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, Pittsburgh (15)
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tenn. (17)
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York (18)
Duke University Hospital, Durham, N.C. (19)
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston (20)

You can see the full rankings here.

U.S. News uses two methodologies, one for procedures and conditions ratings and another for specialty rankings. The rankings are produced by U.S. News with research organization, RTI International. U.S. News says its methodologies in most areas of care are based largely or entirely on objective measures like risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety and quality of nursing. (You can read more about the methodology here. )

The specialties included in the rankings 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

  • Pulmonology

  • Psychiatry

  • Rehabilitation

  • Rheumatology

  • Urology

The procedures and conditions included in the rankings are:

  • COPD

  • Heart Bypass Surgery

  • Heart Failure

  • Hip Replacement

  • Knee Replacement

  • Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

  • Aortic Valve Surgery

  • Colon Cancer Surgery

  • Lung Cancer Surgery

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