St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center is ranked as Idaho’s Best Hospital and the 34^th Best Hospital in the country, according to a report released today by U.S. News & World Report.

To help patients decide where to receive care, U.S. News & World Report has studied and compared close to 5,000 medical centers nationwide. Their examinations focus on 16 adult specialties, nine adult procedures, 10 pediatric specialties and various conditions. Scores are based on patient outcomes and safety, cutting-edge medical equipment, readmission rates, patient experience and staffing levels.  The U.S. News methodologies are considered to be some of the best measures for hospital rankings.

St. Luke’s hospitals in Boise and Meridian are ranked as Idaho’s most high-performing for nine procedures and conditions, including surgery for colon and lung cancer, hip and knee replacements, heart failure and bypass, along with COPD. St. Luke’s also ranked nationally for two specialties.

St. Luke’s Nationwide Specialty Rankings:

23^rd – Pulmonology

46^th – Diabetes and Endocrinology

U.S. News & World Report says a hospital must excel in caring for the sickest, most medically complex patients to be ranked nationally in a specialty.

“This acknowledgement and external report is confirmation that we are focused on the right thing; the patient,” said Jodi Vanderpool, St. Luke’s Vice President for Quality Operations. “Our continual focus is, and should be, ensuring that every patient receives the right care at the right time, every time. We are committed to practicing evidence-based care that helps to ensure positive outcomes, minimizes complications and ensures patient safety for those we have the honor to serve. We have a strong foundation and very high expectations for our St. Luke’s team to continue to aim to be highly reliable.”

St. Luke’s Boise and Meridian hospitals admit nearly 30,000 patients in a given year. Medical staff members perform almost 9,000 inpatient surgeries and 22,000 outpatient surgeries, and St. Luke’s Treasure Valley Emergency Departments treat nearly 120,000 patients a year.

This is the 28^th year for the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings. In one year, St. Luke’s rose from the 45^th position in the nation to 34. The Mayo Clinic took the No. 1 spot, followed by The Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins Hospital.