UCLA Medical Center ranks as the best hospital in the Western United States for the 14th consecutive year — and moves up to No. 3 in the nation — according to a U.S. News & World Report survey of 2,550 board-certified physicians from across the country.

The 14th annual guide to “America’s best hospitals� highlights the magazine’s July 28 edition and will be on newsstands July 21. The rankings also are available on the Internet at www.usnews.com.

UCLA Medical Center is the only Southern California hospital to earn a spot on the magazine’s “honor roll� rankings during the 14 years U.S. News has conducted the survey. The honor roll recognizes hospitals that demonstrate excellence across many specialties.

“Our doctors, nurses and staff come to UCLA every day to help the sick, advance medical knowledge and pursue scientific research in order to help people access the highest quality medical care,� said Dr. Michael Karpf, associate vice chancellor of UCLA Hospital Systems and director of UCLA Medical Center. “This is a wonderful tribute to our outstanding medical and nursing staffs, as well as all members of the health-care team at UCLA Medical Center, and the many community physicians with whom we have close ties.�

A survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago of 150 board-certified physicians in each of 17 medical specialties serves as the base for the U.S. News rankings. Each physician ranks the leading hospitals in his or her specialty. The U.S. News & World Report index combines reputation, mortality data, number of procedures performed and other measures to summarize quality of care.

“To once again be in the company of the nation’s best hospitals when the rapid changes in health care constantly challenge our commitment to excellence, is to make us extraordinarily proud of our physicians’, scientists’, nurses’ and our entire staff’s dedication,� said Dr. Gerald S. Levey, vice chancellor of UCLA Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “We congratulate our faculty and staff for helping UCLA earn this well-deserved distinction.�


UCLA ranked highly in numerous specialty areas, including a No. 1 ranking in geriatrics for the 12th consecutive year. In the field of psychiatry, the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital ranked No. 6 in the country and best in the Western United States for the 12th consecutive year. UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Jules Stein Eye Institute also were judged best in the Western United States, with national rankings of No. 8 and No. 5 respectively.

UCLA specialty areas ranked in the top 20 are: cancer (No. 8); digestive disorders (No. 7); ear, nose and throat (No. 6); eye care (No. 5); geriatrics (No. 1); gynecology (No. 7); heart and heart surgery (No. 12); hormonal disorders (No. 8); kidney disease (No. 7); neurology and neurosurgery (No. 8); orthopedics (No. 7); pediatrics (No. 13); psychiatry (No. 6); rehabilitation (No. 20); respiratory disorders (No. 14); rheumatology (No. 5); and urology (No. 4).

In addition to UCLA, hospitals named to the 2003 honor roll are: Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (No. 1); Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. (No. 2); Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (No. 4); Cleveland Clinic (No. 5); Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. (No. 6); UC San Francisco Medical Center (No. 7); Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis (No. 8); University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor (No. 9); University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle (No. 10); New York-Presbyterian Hospital (No. 11); Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (No. 12); Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia (No. 13); University of Chicago Hospitals (No. 14); Stanford University Hospital and Clinics and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (tied at No. 15); and Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville (No. 17).

UCLA Medical Center is a nonprofit, self-supporting 668-bed hospital providing patient care in all medical specialties. It is the primary teaching hospital for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The UCLA Neuropsychiatric Hospital is a 120-bed facility providing adults, teens and children with a full continuum of psychiatric care, including inpatient, day hospital and outpatient services.