U.S. News says North Shore University, NYU Langone hospitals rank among best in nation

Long Island has two of the nation’s top-ranked hospitals and nine of the best hospitals in New York, a new report shows.

Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and NYU Langone Health’s hospitals, including its facility in Mineola, earned placement on U.S. News & World Report’s “Honor Roll” of the 22 best hospitals in the United States, the publication is due to announce Tuesday.

U.S. News said four institutions tied for the #1 spot in New York State. They are North Shore; the NYU Langone hospitals in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Mineola, whose rankings are combined; Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital; and New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell in Manhattan.

North Shore’s performance is “the result of years of work. … We're operating on a totally different level than we had been in years past,” with new programs that include heart, liver and lung transplants, Jon Sendach, executive director of North Shore, said in an interview.

The 756-bed hospital is nationally ranked in nine adult specialties, including #10 for orthopedics as well as pulmonology and lung surgery, the first time North Shore has placed in the nation’s top 10, Sendach said. “There's just been a significant growth in the sophistication of both of those programs over the last few years,” he said.   

The NYU Langone hospitals, including Mineola’s 591-bed NYU Langone Hospital–Long Island, were nationally ranked in 13 specialties, including #1 for neurology and neurosurgery and eight other top 5 national placements. A spokesman for NYU Langone, Steve Ritea, said in a statement that the rankings reflect the health care system’s “unwavering commitment to exceptionalism.” 

The U.S. News list of top hospitals in New York includes seven additional Long Island facilities: Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park and St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center in Flower Hill (tied for #6), Huntington Hospital (#11), South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore (#12), Stony Brook University Hospital (tied with two hospitals outside Long Island for #13), Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside and Plainview Hospital (tied for #29, along with an upstate hospital).

St. Francis achieved national ranking in eight specialties, including 23rd for geriatrics, 24th for gastroenterology and GI surgery and 26th for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery. Last year, the 364-bed hospital was nationally ranked in five specialties; it added diabetes and endocrinology, gastroenterology and GI surgery, and urology to the list this year.

The hospital’s performance “really is a testament to our team,” Dr. Charles L. Lucore, president of St. Francis, said in an interview. “We have a culture and a team of caregivers that have been known for decades to treat the mind, body and spirit of every patient during their most vulnerable moments when they come to St. Francis.”

This year, U.S. News stopped giving numbered rankings to the hospitals on its national Honor Roll, saying all those facilities “have attained the highest standard of care in the nation.”

The outlet still assigns numbered rankings to the facilities on its state, regional and specialty lists of best hospitals because, it said, “patients care most about finding the highest quality care in their region in the specialty, procedure or condition where they have a need.”

The hospital ratings published by U.S. News and other organizations have come under scrutiny in recent years, with detractors calling them misleading. The ratings organizations say they provide crucial information for patients about the quality and safety of health care at hospitals.

Hospital rankings are a key issue in an ongoing federal lawsuit filed in June by NYU Langone against New Hyde Park-based Northwell. In court papers, NYU Langone alleges Northwell has copied the purple color NYU Langone uses in advertisements, accusing Northwell of trying to “trade off” NYU Langone hospitals’ performance as #1 in the state and # 3 nationally on last year’s U.S. News & World Report’s list of best hospitals, among other honors.

Northwell responded in a statement that it was “proud of its distinct branding…and how it leverages research, education and clinical excellence to differentiate from others in the market.”

The health care system said it has “reviewed NYU Langone’s claims carefully and deny that Northwell infringed any rights purportedly owned by NYU Langone. We look forward to responding in Court."

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.