Where would you turn if you were pregnant and choosing a hospital where you'd deliver your baby? Where would you go if you had to rush to an emergency room, and there were two nearby? Where would you look to find a reputable surgeon?
There are a number of reasons -- in fact, way more than we could list in a short paragraph! -- why someone might carefully consider his or her options when looking to choose the right hospital.
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Luckily, U.S. News & World Report is here to help.
The news organization recently released updated hospital rankings for a number of cities, including Houston and the metropolitan area. Hospitals have been ranked "according to their performance in complex care in medical specialties such as cancer and in common procedures and conditions like knee replacement and heart failure. Hospitals that are not regionally ranked are ordered alphabetically. This metro area includes Baytown and Sugar Land," the website reads.
Without further ado:
No. 1: Houston Methodist Hospital
This hospital is ranked nationally in nine adult specialties. Those include:
- Gastroenterology and GI surgery -- 14th nationally
- Orthopedics -- 14th nationally
- Nephrology -- 15th nationally (in case you're curious, this is a specialty of medicine and pediatrics linked to the kidneys)
- Cardiology and heart surgery -- 16th nationally
- Pulmonology and lung surgery -- 24th nationally
- Geriatrics -- 34th nationally
- Neurology and neurosurgery -- 34th nationally
- Cancer -- 39th nationally
- Diabetes and endocrinology -- 49th nationally
View more data on Houston Methodist.
No. 2: Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center
At Baylor St. Luke's, they're ranked nationally in four adult specialties. Those include:
- Neurology and neurosurgery -- 18th nationally
- Cardiology and heart surgery -- 21st nationally
- Gastroenterology and GI surgery -- 22nd nationally
- Cancer -- 36th nationally
View more data on the medical center.
No. 3: Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital
Although this hospital isn't ranked nationally, it is rated "high performing" in five adult specialties and six procedures and conditions. The specialties are:
- Diabetes and endocrinology
- Geriatrics
- Nephrology
- Orthopedics
- Pulmonology and lung surgery
The conditions include abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, chronic obtrusive pulmonary disease (also known as COPD), colon cancer surgery, heart failure, hip replacement and knee replacement.
View more data on Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital.
No. 4: Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
This hospital is nationally ranked in one adult specialty and two children's specialties, and it's also listed as "high performing" in three adult specialties and five procedures and conditions.
- Orthopedics -- 43rd nationally (adults)
- Pediatric cardiology and heart surgery -- 26th nationally
- Pediatric neurology and neurosurgery -- 41st nationally
As for the "high-performing" accolades, those were earned in the following categories: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, COPD, heart bypass surgery, heart failure and knee replacement.
View more data on this medical center.
No. 5 (tied): Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital
Houston Methodist Sugar Land is high performing in four adult specialties and three procedures and conditions.
The specialties are gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, nephrology and orthopedics. The procedures and conditions are COPD, colon cancer surgery and heart failure.
View more data on this hospital.
No. 5 (tied): Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center
This medical center is high-performing in one adult specialty, orthopedics, and six adult procedures and conditions.
Those six are:
- COPD
- Colon cancer surgery
- Heart bypass surgery
- Heart failure
- Hip replacement
- Knee replacement
View more data on the hospital.
No. 7: North Cypress Medical Center
North Cypress is listed as high-performing in four adult procedures and conditions. Those include:
- COPD
- Heart failure
- Hip replacement
- Knee replacement
View more data on the medical center.
Some hospitals in the area weren't ranked nationally in any specialty. View the full list here.
Wondering how and why U.S. News & World Report makes this list? Click or tap here to check out what’s behind the specialty rankings and their ratings in procedures and conditions.
We'll pull an excerpt from that webpage, in case you're curious:
What are the specialties in which hospitals are ranked?
There are 16 specialty areas. In 12, ranking is determined mostly by data: cancer, cardiology & heart surgery, diabetes & endocrinology, ear, nose & throat, gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics, gynecology, nephrology, neurology & neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology & lung surgery, and urology.
In the remaining four specialties (ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology), ranking is determined entirely by expert opinion, based on responses from three years of surveys of physician specialists.
The rankings name the top 50 hospitals for complex care in each of the 12 data-driven specialties and roughly a dozen in the four expert-opinion-based specialties.
And now you know.