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The Mary Catherine Bunting Center at Mercy

U.S. News Ranks Mercy Medical Center In Baltimore, Maryland As "High Performing" In 10 Medical Specialties

Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD, has been ranked as “high performing” in 10 different medical specialties as noted in U.S. News Media & World Report’s 2011-12 “Best Hospitals” rankings, now available online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals.

The latest rankings showcase 720 hospitals out of about 5,000 hospitals nationwide. Each is ranked among the country’s top hospitals in at least one medical specialty and/or ranked among the best hospitals in its metro area.

Mercy Medical Center was designated as “high-performing” in the following categories:

• Cancer
• Diabetes & Endocrinology
• Gastroenterology
• Geriatrics
• Gynecology
• Nephrology
• Neurology & Neurosurgery
• Orthopedics
• Pulmonology
• Urology

“This is the third consecutive year that Mercy Medical Center has been featured in U.S. News and World Report’s annual ‘Best Hospitals’ edition—it’s further evidence of Mercy’s long-standing tradition of providing top quality health care with the latest technologies in a compassionate setting,” said Thomas R. Mullen, President and CEO, Mercy Health Services, Mercy Medical Center.

The core mission of Best Hospitals is to help guide patients who need an especially high level of care because of a difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age. “These are referral centers where other hospitals send their sickest patients,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News Health Rankings Editor. “Hospitals like these are ones you or those close to you should consider when the stakes are high.”

Covering 94 metro areas in the U.S., the regional hospital rankings complement the national rankings by including hospitals with solid performance nearly at the level of nationally ranked institutions. The regional rankings are aimed primarily at consumers whose care may not demand the special expertise found only at a nationally ranked Best Hospital or who may not be willing or able to travel long distances for medical care. The U.S. News metro rankings give many such patients and their families more options of hospitals within their community and in their health insurance network.

“These are hospitals we call ‘high performers.’ They are fully capable of giving most patients first-rate care, even if they have serious conditions or need demanding procedures,” Comarow said.

Hard numbers stand behind the rankings in most specialties—death rates, patient safety, procedure volume, and other objective data. Responses to a national survey, in which physicians were asked to name hospitals they consider best in their specialty for the toughest cases, also were factored in.