LGH not ranked on magazine's list of 170 hospitals

Lancaster General Hospital was not ranked among the "170 hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report, in their recently-released 2008 report on "America's Best Hospitals." Nineteen of the 170 hospitals were named to its Honor Roll.

Although the publication offered no overall ranking of many of the 170 hospitals, including LGH, it did score LGH in 11 specialty areas.

The U.S. News Score ranges from 0 to 100. The score is a measure of total quality based on "reputation, death rate, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services." LGH scored higher in geriatric care (21.9), cancer (20.4), and urology (20.2), and lower in neurology & neurosurgery (10.5), and ear, nose, & throat (16.1).

For comparison, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center received scores of 16.9 in geriatric care, 21.1 in cancer care, 10.9 in urology, and 9.9 in neurology & neurosurgery.

Lancaster General Hospital achieved perfect scores for advanced technologies in endocrinology (7/7), advanced technologies for gastrointestinal disorders (4/4), advanced technologies in geriatric care (2/2), advanced technologies in gynecology (5/5), advanced technologies for ear, nose, & throat, advanced technologies for respiratory disorders, and patient services in orthopedics (7/7),

Lancaster General received 5/8 for advanced technology in urology and a particularly low score for advanced technologies in orthopedics (0/1) for not having computer-assisted orthopedic surgery.

A score was also given for actual vs. expected deaths in various practice areas. Scores below 1 mean fewer deaths than expected. Scores above 1 mean more deaths than predicted. LGH had lower-than-expected mortality rates in the areas of cancer(0.88), endocrinology (0.8), gastrointestinal disorders (0.92), geriatric care (0.86), gynecology (0.87), ear, nose & throat (0.67), and urology (0.6), and greater than expected mortality rates in the areas of kidney disease (1.09), neurology & neurosurgery (1.13), and respiratory disorders (1.03).

Overall, however, Lancaster General had substantially similar mortality rates as nearby Hershey Medical Center.

The #1 ranked hospital was Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. It achieved U.S. News Scores of 66.6 for cancer treatment, 65.5 for endocrinology, 62.6 for gastrointestinal disorders, 90.6 for geriatric care, 77.9 in gynecology, 83.5 in kidney disease, 97.4 in neurology & neurosurgery, 38.8 in orthopedics, 100 in ear, nose & throat, 71.4 for respiratory disorders, and 100 for urology.

Lancaster General Hospital's rankings can be found online at http://www.usnews.com/listings/hospitals/6231120/.