America’s healthcare system is often criticized by much of the world, but it ranks number one for hospital care, according to a new report. It found four of the top five hospitals in the world are in the U.S. and 43 of 250 American – far more than Germany in second place, which has 23 in the top rankings. The UK has 11 hospitals in the top 250, six of which are in London. The best UK hospital is St Thomas’ Hospital, followed by Guy’s Hospital.
America spends more money per capita on healthcare than any similarly large and wealthy nation. It also performs the most clinical tests worldwide, and has the highest rate of cancer survival. The U.S. also has access to state-of-the-art medicines, being the largest producer of medicines in the world. The best hospital worldwide is the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota , followed by the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and Toronto General Hospital in Canada. The report, which was a collaboration between Newsweek and renowned data analyst site Statista, included data on 2,400 hospitals across 30 countries.
Each hospital’s score is based on an online survey of more than 85,000 medical experts and public data from patient surveys on their general satisfaction after they left the hospital. The rankings are based on four data sources: patient experience surveys; hospital quality metrics (which differ between countries), such as quality of care for specific treatments, data on hygiene measures and patient safety, data on number of patients per doctors and per nurse; and patient reported health outcomes such as symptoms and satisfaction with care, which are completed by patients to measure their perception of functional well-being and quality of life. The top hospital in the world is the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota (pictured), the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world.
It was also ranked in all 12 specialties: cardiac surgery, cardiology, gastroenterology, neurosurgery, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pulmonology, urology, endocrinology, orthopedics, oncology and pediatrics. In November, the Mayo Clinic announced plans for a new five billion dollar campus in downtown Rochester.
The plans include neighborhoods so that patients can access continuous care. The Mayo Clinic was founded over a century ago by two brothers in the rural Midwest, and has become the top destination for patients with difficult-to-treat conditions. Its former chief administrative officer, Jeffrey Bolton, said what differentiates the Mayo Clinic from other hospitals is that the different specialties are highly integrated. Patients come to the Mayo Clinic and see a doctor. If there’s a bigger problem, say with the urology system or another issue, the patient is moved that same day, or even that hour, to the next specialist, ‘so problems get solved. And this is what attracts people,’ Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, told business journal Knowledge at Wharton . The Mayo Clinic’s philosophy is that ‘the wisdom of peers is greater than any individual.’
Meanwhile, it is the sixth consecutive year the Cleveland Clinic has ranked second in the world. The Cleveland Clinic was also ranked in all 12 specialties, while Toronto General Hospital was ranked for oncology, cardiology, cardiac surgery, endocrinology, gastroenterology, pulmonology and urology. It has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the U.S. ‘At Cleveland Clinic, our goals are to be the best place to receive care anywhere and the best place to work in healthcare,’ said Dr Tom Mihaljevic, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic. ‘A recognition like this reflects on every one of our 81,000 caregivers worldwide, who are dedicated, compassionate and committed to our patients and our communities.’ Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Cleveland Clinic Fairview were also recognized among the top 250 hospitals in the world. According to the Toronto General Hospital, it is leading the way in cardiac care and organ transplants. Pictured: Cleveland Clinic’s main campus.
It is the flagship campus of University Health Network in Canada, and is also a teaching hospital for the University of Toronto. The emergency department treats over 28,000 people each year, while the hospital also houses the major transplantation service for Ontario, performing heart, lung, kidney, liver, pancreas and small intestine, as well as others, for patients referred from all over Canada. The hospital is the largest organ transplant center in North America, performing over 600 transplants a year. The world’s first single and double lung transplants were performed at Toronto General Hospital in 1983 and 1986 and the world’s first valve-sparing aortic root replacement was done at the hospital in 1992. In 2015, surgeons performed the world’s first triple organ transplant (lung, liver and pancreas) in 19-year-old Reid Wylie at the Toronto General Hospital. Pictured: File photo.
St Thomas’ Hospital in the UK is one of the oldest hospitals in the country. In 1993, St Thomas’ merged with Guy’s Hospital to form one hospital trust. In 1949, Sir Harold Ridley achieved the world’s first implantation of an artificial lens in the eye at the hospital, treating a cataract in a 49-year-old female patient. And in 2014, doctors at St Thomas’ completed a mitral heart vale replacement on a beating heart for the first time in the world. The mitral valve helps make sure blood flows in one direction through the heart. Before this breakthrough, the valve could only be replaced with open heart surgery.
Also in the top 250 are University College Hospital in London, Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, The Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London and St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne and King’s College Hospital in London. For the first time, Chile and Malaysia were added to the ranking, which also included most of Western Europe and Scandinavia, 10 Asian countries, Australia and countries elsewhere in the Americas. Newsweek said the top 10 had ‘intriguing use of artificial intelligence to advance medical discoveries.’ The world’s best specialized hospitals were also ranked for 2024.
The top oncology hospital was the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. For cardiology, cardiac surgery, neurology, pulmonology, urology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester took the top spot. With pediatrics, the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts was deemed to be number one. For orthopedics, Hospital For Special Surgery in New York was ranked the best. And with obstetrics and gynecology, The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in Maryland was ranked the best.
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