Hospital Center's Heart Program Ranked among 'AMERICA'S BEST''

U.S.News Lists Heart and Heart Surgery, Kidney Disease and Geriatric Care

Contact: Paula Faria
202-877-7594
paula.faria@Medstar.net

Washington, D.C.,-July 13, 2007- Washington Hospital Center has once again been named among 'America's Best Hospitals' by U.S.News & World Report in the magazine's 18th annual survey of 5,462 health care facilities, enhancing its reputation as one of the country's premier healthcare facilities for cardiovascular care.

The Hospital Center is the only Washington hospital to be ranked in the areas of heart and heart surgery and geriatrics and is the top ranked Washington area hospital in kidney disease and transplantation.

Only 173 medical centers in the U.S. were ranked in one or more of 16 specialties designated in the U.S.News. Hospitals were judged on three equally weighted factors - reputation, mortality rate, and patient care-related factors including nursing and patient services. The 50 hospitals with the highest scores in each specialty made the list.

A sampling of board-certified doctors in each specialty was randomly selected from the American Medical Association's master list of 850,000 physicians nationwide. U.S.News randomly polled 200 doctors in each specialty who were asked to list the five hospitals they considered best in their specialty for difficult cases. The mail survey also asked that the decision be made without consideration of cost or location. An estimated 46 percent of the 3,200 doctors contacted responded to this year's survey.