Yale-New Haven is CT's Top Hospital; Regional Rankings Include Eight Hospitals in State

The top ranked hospitals in Connecticut were Yale-New Haven Hospital, Hartford Hospital, and Danbury Hospital, followed by Greenwich Hospital, Middlesex Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Waterbury Hospital and St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.  That is the status in the annual U.S. News and World Report ranking of the nation’s best hospitals, released this week. Only Yale-New Haven broke into the ranks of the nation’s best, earning national rankings in eight adult specialties – including to rankings among the nation’s ten best - and six pediatric specialties.  Among the adult specialties, Yale-New Haven ranked #8 in the nation in diabetes and endocrinology,#10 in psychiatry, #21 in pulmonology, #22 in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery and #25 in geriatrics.  Yale-New Haven’s national rankings in particular specialties also included #27 in gynecology, #42 in the nation in cancer, and #43 nationally in ear, nose & throat care.  

Yale-New Haven Hospital is a 1,571-bed general medical and surgical facility with 54,412 admissions in the most recent year reported, according to US News. It performed 16,886 annual inpatient and 22,990 outpatient surgeries, and its emergency room had 141,422 visits.

Among pediatric specialties, Yale-New Haven ranked #5 in diabetes & Endocrinology, and in the top 50 in cancer, gastroenterology & GI surgery, neonatology, neurology & neurosurgery, and pulmonology.

Hartford Hospital, ranked second in the state, is a general medical and surgical hospital in the state's capital city.  It performed nearly at the level of nationally ranked U.S. News Best Hospitals in four adult specialties, according to the publication.  Hartford Hospital has 798 beds. The hospital had 37,997 admissions and performed 11,905 annual inpatient and 24,679 outpatient surgeries. Its emergency room had 99,811 visits. Like Yale-New Haven, Hartford Hospital is a teaching hospital.

Considerably smaller in size and scope, Danbury Hospital ranked third amongst Connecticut hospitals.  Danbury Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital, with 344 beds. It is also a teaching hospital. Survey data for the latest year available shows that 70,622 patients visited the hospital's emergency room. The hospital had a total of 17,862 admissions. Its physicians performed 4,322 inpatient and 10,811 outpatient surgeries, according to data cited by U.S. News.

U.S. News analyzed over 5,000 hospitals for adult and pediatric care to find the best in the nation, based on critical criteria and patient outcomes.  Top-ranked hospitals include University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (No. 1 in the nation in Cancer), the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio (No. 1 nationally in Cardiology & Heart Surgery) and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, New York (No. 1 in Orthopedics). They also include 15 hospitals that ranked among the top 20 nationally in at least half a dozen different specialties, earning them each a berth on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston topped that list.

The publication indicated that in all, just 137 hospitals – less than 3 percent of all of those in the nation – earned a national ranking in at least one specialty. But while those medical centers stand above the rest in providing complex specialty care, they aren't the only ones deserving of patients' attention according to the US News editorial team on the project.  The top hospitals - reaching the publication's Honor Roll of 15 hospitals - included Massachusetts General Hospital at #1, Mayo Clinic at #2, and Johns Hopkins at #3.  Another New England hospital making the Honor Roll, at #6, is Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital.  

Underscoring the frequency with which various medical procedures are done, US News highlighted the statistics:  “Over the next 12 months, more than 1 million Americans will have surgery to replace a hip or knee. Approximately 400,000 will have heart bypass surgery. About 900,000 will be hospitalized for congestive heart failure and another 700,000 or more for the respiratory condition called COPD.”  These are among the most common procedures and conditions that hospitals encounter, according to the publication, and the core of their rankings system.