St. Francis Hospital gets top ranking in magazine survey

St. Francis Hospital for the third consecutive year was top among Long Island hospitals in rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

The magazine, in its 25th annual survey of close to 5,000 hospitals released Tuesday, ranked the Roslyn hospital ninth in the nation for cardiology and cardiac surgery. Last year it was eighth, the year before 11th.

Among the 180 hospitals in the New York metropolitan region, which includes New York City, Long Island, Westchester and northern New Jersey, St. Francis was ranked sixth overall.

St. Francis also was rated among the best in the country in four other specialties: It was ranked 16th nationally in gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; 30th in geriatrics; 33rd in orthopedics; and 46th in neurology and neurosurgery. This is the eighth year in a row the hospital has been nationally recognized.

"We have an incredible culture," said Ruth Hennessey, chief administrative officer at St. Francis. "Our staff members are very dedicated folks, truly dedicated. They are obsessive-compulsive."

Hennessey says the hospital has chosen to expand its expertise beyond cardiovascular medicine based on its population of patients, many of whom are older.

"We don't need to be the biggest; we need to be the best," she said. "We have enough volume to keep staff motivated and on the cutting edge. We have chosen those things quite carefully [in areas] where we have a clinical competence." The only other Long Island hospital in the top 10 regionally was North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, which was listed as 10th and was ranked 48th nationally in neurology and neurosurgery.

New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell in Manhattan was rated top in the metro area overall and sixth nationally. This year, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was named the top hospital in the country. Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola was ranked 14th in the metro area; Huntington Hospital was 17th; South Nassau Communities Hospital was 19th; Stony Brook University Hospital was 22nd. Both John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park were rated 23rd. Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, Glen Cove Hospital, Southside Hospital in Bay Shore and St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson were all ranked 40th regionally.