UCLA Health hospitals in Westwood and Santa Monica were ranked No. 1 in both Los Angeles and California and No. 5 in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s annual honor roll.

The state and local rankings evaluate hospitals’ quality in nine relatively common procedures and treatments: abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic valve surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, colon cancer surgery, care for congestive heart failure, heart bypass surgery, hip replacement, knee replacement and lung cancer surgery.

“By any measure, UCLA Health delivers the highest quality care available,” said Johnese Spisso, president of UCLA Health, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System and associate vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences. “We are honored to be recognized for long-standing excellence in care, provided by our team with commitment and compassion to patients from not only Los Angeles but around the world.”

Only 20 hospitals were named to the national Best Hospitals Honor Roll, which assesses performance in 16 medical specialties and recognizes hospitals that excel in treating patients requiring the most complex care. UCLA has consistently placed in the top six annually since the honor roll began 27 years ago.

“Our distinction among the ‘best of the best’ reflects the exceptional dedication of the physicians, nurses, staff, volunteers and others who make up our hospitals, clinics and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA,” said Dr. John Mazziotta, vice chancellor for UCLA Health Sciences and CEO of UCLA Health. “I commend every member of the UCLA Health team for this recognition and for putting patients first.”

The methodology (PDF) for the procedures and conditions ratings utilizes extensive publicly reported data on patient outcomes, infection rates, nursing staffing levels, procedure volume and many other factors.

The methodology for the medical specialty ratings that comprise the Best Hospitals Honor Roll includes similar objective data and adds hospital reputation as determined by physician surveys. To qualify for the honor roll, hospitals must rank highly in at least six specialties.

UCLA placed highly in 15 of the 16 specialties, including 12 top-10 rankings: geriatrics (2); urology (3); ear, nose and throat (4); cancer at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (5), ophthalmology at the Stein and Doheny Eye Institutes (5); gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery (5); rheumatology (6); nephrology (7); psychiatry at the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA (7); neurology and neurosurgery (8), pulmonology (9) and gynecology (10).

“Barely 150 hospitals — about 3 percent of the nearly 5,000 we evaluated — were nationally ranked in even one specialty,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “Even fewer excelled across numerous areas of care, as each of these honor roll hospitals did.”

UCLA Health includes four hospitals on two campuses — Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center; UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica; Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA; and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA — and more than 150 primary and specialty offices throughout Southern California. UCLA Health is consistently ranked as one of the top hospitals and the best in the Western United States in the national rankings by U.S. News and World Report.

► For journalists: B-roll of UCLA hospitals (download)