Cleveland Clinic Florida tops U.S. News regional ‘Best Hospitals’ ranking

Cleveland Clinc Florida has topped U.S. News and World Report’s coveted Best Hospitals ranking of 70 South Florida hospitals.

This is the first time Cleveland Clinic Florida, which opened its doors in Weston in 2001, has topped the former news magazine’s best-of list for South Florida. In addition, the clinic ranked fifth among 263 hospitals in Florida, moving up four spots from the previous year.

Last year, Cleveland Clinic Florida was ranked third-best in South Florida and ninth-best in the state. Baptist Hospital of Miami was ranked first in South Florida. Mayo Clinic Jacksonville was ranked top in the state, followed by UF Health Shands Hospital and Tampa General Hospital.

“We are thrilled beyond measure to be recognized by our peers for our focus on quality and patient safety,” said Dr. Wael Barsoum, president of Cleveland Clinic Florida.

Among the 70 ranked South Florida hospitals, Baptist Hospital of Miami was second and Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale was third. Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and South Miami Hospital tied for fourth place. Boca Raton Regional Hospital, tied for sixth place with Homestead Hospital and West Kendall Baptist Hospital, was the highest-ranking hospital in Palm Beach County.

U.S. News compiles its annual hospital rankings by comparing data from nearly 5,000 hospitals across specialties, procedures and conditions, according to its website. Hospitals are ranked nationally in specialties and regionally in states and metro areas.

In addition to evaluating hospitals for specialties such as pulmonology, urology, gynecology and orthopedics, the website recently began assigning ratings for common medical procedures and conditions.

Criteria include survival chances, patient safety, nurse staffing, nurse credentialing, availability of intensive care units, treatment of blood clots and preventing readmissions.

Cleveland Clinic Florida was rated as “high performing” for treatment of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD; colon cancer surgery; heart failure; hip replacement; and knee replacement. It was rated “average” for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic valve surgery, heart bypass surgery and lung cancer surgery.

In the national comparison of specialties, Cleveland Clinic Florida ranked 49th best for gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery and “high performing” for geriatrics and orthopedics.

The hospital’s parent organization, Cleveland Clinic, was ranked in second place among all hospitals nationally, placing among the top three in its comparisons of nine of 16 specialties. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., was first.

Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic selected West Broward for the site of an expansion complex in 1986 and established a temporary branch in Fort Lauderdale in 1987. At the time, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation said it was interested in the area because at least 25 percent of the Cleveland center’s referrals came from South Florida.

But state regulators, competitors and South Florida’s publicly owned hospitals spent a decade fighting the clinic’s plans to build a campus in Weston, saying it would add to already high occupancy rates among the region’s hospitals. In 1995, the clinic announced a partnership with Tenet Healthcare Corp. to jointly build a hospital in Weston. The new hospital opened in 2001, and in 2006, Cleveland Clinic announced it had bought out Tenet’s interest.

In addition to Weston, Cleveland Clinic Florida operates facilities in West Palm Beach, Atlantis, Palm Beach Gardens and Parkland. In September, the clinic announced plans for a $302 million expansion that will include a new five-story complex in Weston and a clinic and outpatient surgery center in Coral Springs.

Also on Tuesday, U.S. News announced that Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, part of the University of Miami Health System with facilities in Miami, Palm Beach Gardens, Naples and Plantation, was ranked as the nation’s top provider in ophthalmology for the 13th straight year and 15th time since the hospital rankings began.

While U.S. News rates hospitals for 16 specialties, ophthalmology is among four specialties for which ratings are not based on outcome data. Rather, the ratings are based on recommendations by surveyed ophthalmology specialists.

“Receiving the No. 1 ranking again is a great testament to the tradition of excellence that drives every aspect of Bascom Palmer’s operation,” said Dr. Eduardo C. Alfonso, chairman of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.

U.S. News and World Report was once a weekly news magazine, but in 2010 transitioned to primarily web-based publishing. It still publishes annual “best-of” consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, high schools, nursing homes, mutual funds, health plans, diets and more, according to its website. The magazine has published its hospital rankings since 1990.