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Rush University Medical Center has once again been named one of the nation's top hospitals in a number of specialties in the upcoming issue of U.S.News & World Report. Rush is ranked among the best in seven of 16 categories included in the magazine's annual "America's Best Hospitals" issue on sale Monday, July 14.

Just 170 out of 5,453 hospitals in the United States, about 3 percent, scored high enough this year to rank in even a single specialty, according to the magazine.

Rush is ranked higher than any other program in Illinois in Orthopedics at #10 in the nation. The rankings of other Rush programs are: Neurology and Neurosurgery, #15; Geriatrics, #21; Kidney Disease, #23; Urology, #24; Gastroenterology (Digestive Disorders), #29; and Heart and Heart Surgery, #45.

According to U.S.News & World Report, the purpose of the "America's Best Hospitals" ranking is to help patients "who truly need outstanding care". Hospitals are judged not in routine procedures but in difficult cases across an entire specialty.

"Our rankings highlight the internal culture of excellence embraced by caregivers in the great hospitals throughout the U.S.," said Brian Kelly, editor of U.S.News & World Report.

"Talent and money alone don't put hospitals in the rankings," said Best Hospitals editor Avery Comarow. "The truly best hospitals are never satisfied. The emphasis is not only on doing well, but always doing better."

The rankings in 12 of the 16 specialties weigh three elements equally: reputation, death rate, and a set of care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. To be considered at all for the 12 data driven specialties, a hospital had to meet at least one of the three requirements: membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals, affiliation with a medical school, or availability of at least six of 13 key technologies such as robotic surgery.

In the four other specialties: ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology, ranking is based solely on reputation derived from physician surveys. The 2008 rankings were produced by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

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