Abbott Northwestern Hospital named in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Hospitals 2004 
MINNEAPOLIS 07/02/2004--Abbott Northwestern Hospital is cited as one of the country’s best hospitals in four specialty areas in the 15th annual edition of U.S. News & World Report’s "America's Best Hospitals." The publication ranks 177 top medical centers, from a total of 6,012, in 17 clinical specialties.
Abbott Northwestern was ranked in four specialties, including:
# 33 in heart and heart surgery
# 21 in neurology and neurosurgery
# 38 in urology
# 45 in ear, nose and throat
To be considered, a hospital first must satisfy one of three requirements: be a member of the Council of Teaching Hospitals, be affiliated with a medical school or have at least nine of 17 specified items of medical technology.
In each specialty, a hospital must perform a given number of procedures or had to be cited by at least one physician in the past three years of U.S. News surveys. These hospitals received a score that equally weighs reputation, mortality and a group of care-related factors such as nursing.
The "America's Best Hospitals" methodology was devised in 1993 by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
The score is based on:
Reputation—as rated by 150 board-certified physicians who were selected at random and asked to list up to five hospitals they consider tops in their specialty regardless of cost or location.
Mortality—comparing the number of deaths of Medicare patients with specified conditions in 2000, 2001 and 2002 with the number expected.
Other factors—including availability of hospice and palliative care, the number of discharges, nursing ratios and other issues.
The rankings will appear in the July 12 issue of U.S. News & World Report, which hits newsstands Monday, July 5.
Minneapolis-based Abbott Northwestern Hospital is part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, a non-profit network of hospitals, clinics and other health care services. Abbott Northwestern is found online at www.abbottnorthwestern.com and the latest health information is at www.medformation.com.
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