Suburban hospitals make prestigious list

Three suburban hospitals -- Edward in Naperville, Central DuPage in Winfield, and Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood -- were among those joining five Chicago institutions on this year's U.S. News and World Report list of the nation's top hospitals.

Loyola placed 31st in heart care, 39th in geriatric care and 43rd in urology.

Central DuPage ranked 47th in orthopedics, and Edward made number 47 in treating gastrointestinal disorders.

Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey also made the list, ranking 38th in neurology and neurosurgery.

In Chicago, three teaching hospitals scored high rankings in several categories.

The University of Chicago Medical Center was ranked 17th overall in the nation and recognized in 11 specialties. Northwestern Memorial Hospital was cited in 10 specialties. Rush University Medical Center made the list in seven categories.

Children's Memorial Hospital was named in the top 50 in seven different pediatric specialties. And the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago again ranked first in the nation for rehabilitation facilities.

The rankings are based on reputation, mortality rate, staffing and services, and are heavily weighted toward teaching hospitals, in the view of Dr. David Cooke, vice president for quality and safety at Central DuPage.

By surveying doctors on where they would refer family members, some institutions can ride on past reputation.

But CDH made the list in orthopedics primarily through its heavy caseload, its broad range of service, and its low mortality rate of 0.39, almost 60 percent less than what would typically be expected.

"What may cause us to stand apart," Cooke said, "is our surgeons have so much experience, taking on cases other orthopedists would not do," such as elderly patients with heart or lung conditions or second joint replacements.

For Loyola, the high rankings are a repeat performance.

Dr. David Wilber, director of cardiology, credited a commitment toward providing new technology that makes procedures safer and simpler, such as a magnetically guided heart catheter system.

At Edward Hospital, the gastrointestinal department has grown to perform about 10,000 procedures a year, including colonoscopies to screen for colon cancer and endoscopies to diagnose disorders like esophageal reflux disease.

Kelly Leonard, nurse manager for Edward's endoscopy services, said an important part of the department's success was getting more people screened before they have a problem.