MUSC Ranked State's No. 1 Hospital Third Year in a Row

Contact: Tony Ciuffo
843-792-2626
ciuffo@musc.edu

August 8, 2017

CHARLESTON, SC – MUSC Health was named by U.S. News & World Report for the third year in a row as the number one hospital in South Carolina, and one of the country's top 50 hospitals in the treatment of ear, nose, and throat (ENT) disorders, gynecology, urology, and cancer. MUSC was also high-performing in gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology, and rheumatology. For a more in-depth look at some of the ranked areas, visit MUSC ranking report.

“What does it mean to be ranked the number one hospital in South Carolina three years in a row? I’d say that above all, it’s a reflection of our overall commitment to putting patients and their families first, advancing innovation in how we deliver care, and striving to make our communities healthier in ways that go beyond the hospital setting,” said Patrick J. Cawley, M.D., MUSC Health CEO, and MUSC vice president for health affairs, university. “There are lots of ranking systems out there, but this particular designation means more than reputation, these rankings reflect strong patient outcomes, excellence in teaching the next generation of care providers, new innovations that improve health, and strong health care leadership."

Paul Lambert, M.D., director of the MUSC Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, was pleased his division was again recognized as one of the nation’s leading ENT centers. “We continue to aim high for what we want to achieve, and this year’s ranking by US News & World Report as No. 11 in the United States, up from No. 14 last year, is further validation of our excellence in the MUSC tripartite mission of patient care, education, and research,” Lambert said. “This recognition would not have happened without the collective effort of our dedicated clinicians and researchers who truly excel in their domains, and our supportive administrative team which facilitates those activities. We are obviously very proud of this special department. But a department does not function in isolation, and we acknowledge the leadership and infrastructure provided by MUSC and our amazing colleagues across the enterprise.”

U.S. News & World Report unveiled the 28th edition of the Best Hospitals rankings at U.S. News. Designed to help patients with life-threatening or rare conditions identify hospitals that excel in treating the most difficult cases, Best Hospitals 2017-18 includes consumer-friendly data and information on 4,500 medical centers nationwide in 25 specialties, procedures, and conditions. In the 16 specialty areas, 152 hospitals were ranked 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.

“For nearly three decades, we’ve strived to make hospital quality more transparent to Health care consumers nationwide,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. "By providing the most comprehensive data available, we hope to give patients the information they need to find the best care across a range of specialties.”

The U.S. News methodologies include risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety, quality of nursing care, and other care-related indicators.

Best Hospitals was produced by U.S. News with RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

About MUSC Health

MUSC Health is the clinical enterprise of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), comprised of a 700-bed medical center, the MUSC College of Medicine and the physician’s practice plan. It serves patients across South Carolina and beyond through four hospital facilities in Charleston and more than 100 outreach sites. Among these are the Hollings Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-designated center in the state, and a nationally recognized Children’s Hospital. The Medical University was founded in 1824 and has become a premiere academic health sciences center at the forefront of the latest advances in medicine, with world-class physicians, scientists and groundbreaking research, and technology that is often the first of its kind in the world. Visit MUSC Health for more information.