U.S. News won't rank hospitals any longer, ending Mayo Clinic's No. 1 streak

Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·3 min read
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Jul. 13—ROCHESTER — Mayo Clinic

will never again be ranked No. 1 as the overall top hospital by

U.S. News & World Report magazine's annual list

. Then again, no other hospital will be, either.

After 34 years of hospital rankings — including the last seven years, which found Mayo atop the list —

U.S. News & World Report will no longer assign a ranking number

to hospitals overall, the magazine announced this week. The top "Honor Roll" of hospitals will list them without numeral ranks.

However, the magazine will continue to publish ordinal rankings for 15 medical specialties, including cancer treatment and diabetes care. Mayo Clinic was listed as No. 1 in four of those specialty sub-rankings in 2022. It was ranked in the top 10 for 14 of the specialties.

"While we continue to value the usefulness of the Honor Roll in identifying broad clinical excellence, we also believe that the current format obscures the fact that all of the Honor Roll hospitals have attained the highest standard of care in the nation," wrote the team behind the annual rankings in a letter to hospitals this week. "As a result, after months of deliberation, we have changed the format of the Honor Roll list. Specifically, there will be no ordinal ranking for hospitals selected for this year's Honor Roll when that list is ultimately published."

While Mayo Clinic is often ranked No. 1 by less prestigious lists compiled by Newsweek and Forbes magazines, the U.S. News & World Report list has played a prominent part of Mayo Clinic's marketing in recent years.

Mayo Clinic displayed banners announcing the No. 1 ranking within minutes of U.S. News & World Report releasing the list in 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Mayo Clinic was ranked as No. 1 by US News in 2022. That was its seventh year in a row as the top hospital on the list. Mayo Clinic was also ranked as No. 1 in 2014.

When contacted about the change, Mayo Clinic leadership responded positively to the new approach.

"Mayo Clinic supports this change, as a rating-based system more accurately informs patient decision-making, promotes quality improvement by hospitals, and encourages resources to be directed toward improving meaningful aspects of quality, safety, patient experience and health equity," wrote Mayo Clinic's Chief Value Officer Dr. Sean Dowdy. "Past and anticipated future recognition of Mayo Clinic hospitals as an Honor Roll member will continue to acknowledge our staffs' deep commitment to empathic and high-quality care."

The magazine is expected to release its 2023 hospital rankings on Aug. 1, 2023.

This is the latest big change to the U.S. News & World Report hospital rankings. Some of the changes involving health equity and charity care have spurred criticism from hospitals.

Pennsylvania-based St. Luke's University Health Network described the U.S. News ranking methodology "misguided" in May and announced it would no longer participate in its annual ranking.

Meanwhile, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu recently announced "significant concerns" with the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings in June and suggested that the magazine's advertising statements may violate California law.

Chiu also asked the magazine to make public the payments that it receives from hospitals like Mayo Clinic. He alleged keeping that financial data private might violate Federal Trade Commission regulations.

The annual release of the U.S. News ranking marks the beginning of a new marketing campaign for the top hospitals, who spend millions on ads, banners, lapel pins and commercials to advertise their spots on the prestigious list. The magazine also sells a "badge" denoting the ranking that hospitals can use on their web sites and other promotional materials.

The magazine also publishes a Best Hospitals guidebook, full of advertisements from the hospitals.

The Post Bulletin has asked for how much Mayo Clinic pays to U.S. News & World Report for advertising and marketing materials for the past seven years. The magazine has always declined to release that information, but it's estimated that money generated by the annual list is significant.