U.S. News & World Report recently published their annual ranking of the nation's Best Hospitals. This year, a mere 17 hospitals made the list and just 144 hospitals ranked nationally in a specialty.

The 2014 list includes two firsts.

1. The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, ranked Number 1 for the first time ever—barely edging out Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

2. The reputation survey included input from more physicians than ever, thanks to a collaboration with Doximity—expanding the reach from ~3,000 physicians to over 50,000.

In previous years, two elements from this hugely popular U.S. News Best Hospital ranking have had been highly discussed.

First, that board-certified specialists surveyed don’t know enough about hospitals to provide informed responses. Second, that U.S. News doesn’t ask enough physicians for their opinions.

This year, U.S. News was able to supplement their traditional Best Hospitals survey process by surveying a subset of the 300,000 registered Doximity members whose specialties match those in the Best Hospitals rankings. U.S. News sifted through data for nearly 5,000 hospitals and results from surveys of more than 9,500 physicians to rank the best centers in 16 adult specialties from cancer to urology. Death rates, patient safety and hospital reputation were just a few of the many factors they considered. 

Physicians and hospitals benefit.

The partnership between U.S. News and Doximity now means patients can find doctors at the Best Hospitals in their region or even nationwide. More than 20-million visitors visit the U.S. News website each month; US News provides a service that helps patients find the best doctor to meet their needs at the Best Hospitals. Both doctors and hospitals manage these hospital directories in real-time so the most accurate information is always available.

The same information enables healthcare facilities to hire the very best physicians.

The Best Hospitals hire physicians who are the cream of the crop and some of the most accomplished doctors, including the Surgeon General Elect, are Doximity physician members. We invite you come and explore Doximity’s physician recruitment solutions.

At the time of the U.S. News survey (in January 2014) Doximity members represented 25% of the population of all U.S. physicians. Today we’ve grown to nearly 50% and the number is climbing. Our partners at U.S. News share our vision for a connected healthcare system, and since you’re reading this it’s likely you share that vision, too. Thanks for joining us; and to America’s 17 Best Hospitals we offer our congratulations.  

The survey procedures for the Doximity physician database are outlined beginning on page 39 of the report.