Ranked in 12 Medical Specialties, Wake Forest Baptist is among the Nation’s Best Hospitals According to U.S. News & World Report

July 16, 2013

For the 21st consecutive year, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is listed among the best hospitals in the country by U.S. News & World Report. The online magazine released its annual national ranking of the country’s premier hospitals, earlier today.

This year marks a significant increase in the Medical Center’s presence on the annual best hospitals list. Wake Forest Baptist is ranked nationally in 12 adult medicine specialties, up from seven last year. This is the highest number of specialties in which the Medical Center has been ranked, since it first appeared on the U.S. News list in 1993.

Wake Forest Baptist is one of only 21 hospitals in the country to rank in 12 or more national adult medical and surgical specialties. The U.S. has 4,806 hospitals.

In other firsts, the Medical Center received its first top 10 national ranking in Nephrology (#9); garnered five additional top 25 national rankings in Cancer (#12), Pulmonology (#16), Ear, Nose & Throat (#20), Diabetes & Endocrinology (#24), Gastroenterology & GI Surgery (#25); and is also nationally ranked in Gynecology (#27), Neurology & Neurosurgery (#30), Urology (#35), Geriatrics (#39), Cardiology & Heart Surgery (#46), and Orthopedics (#48).

Last month, Brenner Children’s Hospital, part of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, was named by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best children’s hospitals, the first time it has made that list. It is nationally ranked in three pediatric specialties: Urology (#33), Neonatology (#36) and Orthopedics (#44).

Chief Executive OfficerJohn D. McConnell, M.D., attributed the improved national standings to the outstanding efforts of the Medical Center’s faculty, nurses, researchers and employees who fulfill a mission of compassionate care, treatment, service and cure.“Each and every day our dedicated faculty and staff strive to improve health in our community by providing the best possible health care to our patients, working tirelessly to train the next generation of health leaders and providers, and expanding the known limits of scientific and medical discovery. I could not be more proud of what has been accomplished in just a few short years and I want to publicly thank the faculty and staff at the Medical Center for their individual and collective roles in this achievement.”

Wake Forest Baptist is also ranked #2 in North Carolina, after Duke University Medical Center, and is the only top 50 nationally ranked hospital in the Triad and western North Carolina.

The 2013-2014 Best Hospitals rankings denote the 24th year that U.S. News & World Report has compiled the hospital information. The top 50 hospitals are listed in each of 16 adult medicine specialties: Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Ear, Nose, & Throat, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Gynecology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Psychiatry, Pulmonology, Rehabilitation, Rheumatology and Urology.

U.S. News said it publishes the annual rankings “to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age." In the past few years the rankings have expanded beyond national rankings, which are most coveted, to include state, regional and metro rankings.

Media Relations

Paula Faria: pfaria@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-1279

Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487

Main Number: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587