U.S. News & World Report Ranks Scripps La Jolla as a Leader

Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla was recognized as a top hospital in the nation for both heart and heart surgery, and gynecology by U.S.News & World Report. The magazine’s latest edition is devoted to outstanding health care across the nation and selected Scripps La Jolla as one of “America’s Best Hospitals.”

The standards used to rank “America’s Best Hospitals” are rigorous. Out of 5,462 hospitals evaluated nationwide, only 3 percent are ranked in one or more of the 16 designated specialties. This is the third time that Scripps La Jolla has been recognized by the publication as a national leader in “heart and heart surgery” and the first time in the gynecology category.

“This outstanding honor bestowed on Scripps La Jolla exemplifies the excellent care provided at our facility,” says Scripps La Jolla Chief Executive Gary Fybel. “We owe these accolades to the incredible dedication and talents of our hospital staff and physicians.”

The esteemed ranking in cardiac care by U.S.News & World Report comes on the heels of a recent announcement by Scripps Health that it had received a $30 million gift – one of the single largest philanthropic donations in the organization’s 83-year history – to support the new Scripps Cardiovascular Institute on the campus of Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. The new integrated cardiovascular center, which will include the cardiac programs of Scripps Clinic/Scripps Green Hospital and Scripps La Jolla, will serve as a destination hospital for cardiac care on the West Coast.

RTI International, Research Triangle Park, N.C., compiled all hospital data and developed the 2007 rankings on behalf of U.S.News & World Report. Hospitals had to meet a series of progressively tougher standards to be ranked. To be considered at all, a hospital had to satisfy at least one of three requirements: membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, medical school affiliation, or availability of at least six out of 13 key technology-related services. From there, hospitals were ranked based on three elements: reputation, death rate and such care-related factors as nursing and patient services.

“These ranking are especially significant when you consider Scripps La Jolla doesn’t receive the additional support that comes with being affiliated with a university, or from being a teaching hospital,” according to Fybel.

For the fourth year a hospital’s Magnet status affected its standing. Scripps La Jolla became San Diego’s first Magnet Hospital in 2005 from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, formally recognizing the hospital as meeting high standards of nursing excellence.

The 2007 guide to “America’s Best Hospitals” appears in the July 25 issue of the national news magazine, which hits newsstands Monday, July 16.