The U-M Hospitals and Health Centers (UMHHC) have been ranked among the country’s best hospitals, placing 14th overall for the third consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report magazine. U-M was also ranked No. 1 in the Detroit metropolitan area.

The results, released online July 19, mark the 17th year in a row that U-M has been named to the honor roll of “America’s Best Hospitals.”

U-M is the only hospital in Michigan ranked among the 14 institutions on the national honor roll, which signifies all-around excellence in multiple areas of specialized medical care. U-M is tied for 14th with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

U.S. News ranks each of these specialties individually, and U-M earned a high national ranking in all 16 categories. Of the 4,825 hospitals considered for the rankings, only 140 made the list in even one specialty.

“To be nationally recognized in so many areas is a clear demonstration of the dedication of our faculty and staff,” says Doug Strong, director and chief executive officer of UMHHC. “We’re extremely proud to be recognized for the strength of our efforts year after year.”

In one U.S. News category — ear, nose and throat diseases — U-M made the top 10 in the country, ranking ninth for the second year in a row.

In all other specialties, U-M ranked in the top 30 nationwide. These include the specialty care at U-M’s Geriatrics Center (ranked 11th), Comprehensive Cancer Center (ranked 13th), Cardiovascular Center (ranked 12th) and Kellogg Eye Center’s ophthalmologic care (ranked 16th).

Other specialty rankings were gynecology (ranked 12th); pulmonology (ranked 14th); rheumatology and urology, both ranked 15th; diabetes/endocrinology and rehabilitation, both ranked 17th; gastroenterology and psychiatry, both ranked 20th; orthopaedics (ranked 25th) and neurology/neurosurgery (ranked 27th).

The public can see even more evidence of U-M’s top-quality care online. Recently, under Strong’s leadership, UMHS launched a Quality & Safety website that makes UMHHC among the most “transparent” in the country.

Located at www.uofmhealth.org/quality, the site gives anyone access to detailed data about how well U-M performs on many measures of care quality, appropriateness and safety. Such measures form the basis for part of the U.S. News ranking, but the U-M site goes far beyond the publicly available data that rankings are based on.

U.S. News determines the “America’s Best Hospitals” rankings based on hospital reputation in particular specialties, and, for all but four specialties, on mortality rates and a mix of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. Rankings in ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation and rheumatology are determined by reputation among board-certified specialists.

UMHHC is part of the U-M Health System, which also has been recognized by U.S. News as having one of the nation’s top medical schools and top children’s hospitals.