Lehigh Valley, Pa. (July 19, 2010) - Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH) ranks as one of the nation's top hospitals in U.S. News & World Report's 2010-11 Best Hospitals list.
The 2010-11 list recognizes Lehigh Valley Hospital among the nation's leading hospitals for geriatrics, the seventh time the hospital has made the list in this category.
LVH has made the U.S. News rankings 15 consecutive years with a total of 31 specialty category listings in the past seven years alone including heart care and heart surgery, cancer, gastrointestinal disorders, gynecology, orthopedics and respiratory disorders.
"We are pleased to be named for the fifteenth consecutive year. We strive every day to exceed the expectations of our patients and their family members," said Elliot J. Sussman, M.D., LVHN's president and CEO. Sussman said the health network treated more patients over the last year with inpatient bed use up 2.3 percent.
"I am extremely proud of our clinicians, educators, researchers and staff for their dedication and commitment. They provide our community with the outstanding care they expect and deserve, which in turn is recognized nationally by others like U.S. News."
According to U.S. News & World Report, Best Hospitals 2010-11 includes rankings of 152 medical centers nationwide in 16 specialties Another 1,740 hospitals qualified for ranking but did not score high enough to be ranked. In order to be considered, a hospital must meet at least one of four standards: be a teaching hospital, be affiliated with a medical school, have at least 200 beds, or have 100 or more beds and the availability of four or more types of medical technology considered important in a high-quality medical facility, such as a PET/CT scanner and certain precision radiation therapies.
In each specialty, a hospital must perform a certain number of specified procedures on Medicare inpatients, or be cited by at least one physician as among the best in that specialty in the past three years of U.S. News surveys.
"When the stakes are high, you want the best care you can get for yourself or someone close to you," said U.S. News health rankings editor Avery Comarow. "These hospitals are accustomed to seeing the sickest patients day in and day out."
LVH's latest ranking by U.S. News follows other recent recognition of LVHN including:
- Second best heart attack survival rate in the country according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid "Hospital Compare" data as reported by USA TODAY in July 2010
- Ranked first among University Healthsystem Consortium teaching hospitals for total inpatient mortality
- Lehigh Valley Hospital's (LVH) Cancer Center was selected by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, to join a national network of community cancer centers offering expanded research opportunities and state-of-the-art cancer care
- One of 37 general hospitals in the U.S. named 2009 "Leapfrog Top Hospitals" for quality and safety
- Hospitals & Health Networks 100 Most Wired for the ninth straight year and Most Wireless for the sixth time in 2010
- One of the 10 Best Hospitals in America for 2009 by Becker's Hospital Review
- FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2007, 2008 and 2009
The complete list of the 2010 U.S.News & World Report Best Hospitals is available at www.usnews.com/besthospitals and featured in the August print issue of U.S.News, available on newsstands July 27.
Lehigh Valley Health Network includes three hospital facilities - two in Allentown and one in Bethlehem, Pa.; eight health centers caring for communities in four counties; numerous primary and specialty care physician practices throughout the region; pharmacy, imaging, home health services and lab services; and preferred provider services through Valley Preferred. Specialty care includes: trauma care at the region's busiest, most-experienced trauma center treating adults and children, burn care at the regional Burn Center, kidney and pancreas transplants; perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care, and neurology and complex neurosurgery capabilities including national certification as a Primary Stroke Center. Lehigh Valley Health Network has been recognized by US News & World Report for 15 consecutive years as one of America's Best Hospitals; is a national Magnet hospital for excellence in nursing; and has been honored eight straight years among the top integrated health networks in the U.S. Lehigh Valley Hospital has been selected as a National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Centers Program. Additional information is available at lvhn.org and by following us on Facebook and Twitter.