2008 Woodie Awards
UIHC ranks high in report
Zhi Xiong - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 7/13/07 Section: Metro
Eight specialties in the UI Hospitals and Clinics garnered top rankings in the 2007 U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals" lists.
Only 3 percent of the 5,189 hospitals nationwide reviewed in 2006 had one or more specialties ranked, according to the U.S. News website.
"I think it's a bragging point for the people who work here rather than for external audiences," said Donna Katen-Bahensky, the UIHC director. "But it's another piece of information the general public can use."
U.S. News annually compiles data to compare colleges, graduate schools, and hospitals. The hospital rankings will be included in the magazine's July 23 issue, which will hit newsstands July 16.
Some criteria for analyzing health institutions include reputation, mortality rate, and technology.
The UIHC has had departments ranking highly every year since U.S. News began its annual reports 18 years ago, according to a release.
"We've consistently been ranked since the day they started," Katen-Bahensky said. "We've maintained the same level of quality."
Two departments - neurology and neurosurgery, and digestive disorders - made comebacks to the UIHC's rankings, which topped out with six categories last year.
Meanwhile, such departments as otolaryngology and ophthalmology kept their lofty places on the charts at second place and sixth place respectively.
"We've been about that position for years," said Keith Carter, the head of the hospital's ophthalmology department. "We want to continue to make things better."
The department is working with new imaging technology and continuing to build research efforts, he said.
"We've been ranked between first and third place over the last 14 years," said Bruce Gantz, the head of the otolaryngology department. "People will seek medical care at a high level and look toward us."
The department works with cleft palate, sinus problems, and head and neck surgeries, Gantz said.
In June, the New York Times reported "dozens" of liberal-arts colleges opted out of U.S. News's reports entirely, criticizing the magazine for distracting some institutions with too much emphasis on ranking.
But UI officials said the rankings are not what drives the UIHC's staff to improve, despite the honors being a boon to the hospital's reputation.
"We don't really gear what we do to that report," Carter said. "We just need to do the best we can in clinical care."
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
Only 3 percent of the 5,189 hospitals nationwide reviewed in 2006 had one or more specialties ranked, according to the U.S. News website.
"I think it's a bragging point for the people who work here rather than for external audiences," said Donna Katen-Bahensky, the UIHC director. "But it's another piece of information the general public can use."
U.S. News annually compiles data to compare colleges, graduate schools, and hospitals. The hospital rankings will be included in the magazine's July 23 issue, which will hit newsstands July 16.
Some criteria for analyzing health institutions include reputation, mortality rate, and technology.
The UIHC has had departments ranking highly every year since U.S. News began its annual reports 18 years ago, according to a release.
"We've consistently been ranked since the day they started," Katen-Bahensky said. "We've maintained the same level of quality."
Two departments - neurology and neurosurgery, and digestive disorders - made comebacks to the UIHC's rankings, which topped out with six categories last year.
Meanwhile, such departments as otolaryngology and ophthalmology kept their lofty places on the charts at second place and sixth place respectively.
"We've been about that position for years," said Keith Carter, the head of the hospital's ophthalmology department. "We want to continue to make things better."
The department is working with new imaging technology and continuing to build research efforts, he said.
"We've been ranked between first and third place over the last 14 years," said Bruce Gantz, the head of the otolaryngology department. "People will seek medical care at a high level and look toward us."
The department works with cleft palate, sinus problems, and head and neck surgeries, Gantz said.
In June, the New York Times reported "dozens" of liberal-arts colleges opted out of U.S. News's reports entirely, criticizing the magazine for distracting some institutions with too much emphasis on ranking.
But UI officials said the rankings are not what drives the UIHC's staff to improve, despite the honors being a boon to the hospital's reputation.
"We don't really gear what we do to that report," Carter said. "We just need to do the best we can in clinical care."
E-mail DI reporter Zhi Xiong at:
zhi-xiong@uiowa.edu
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