13 South Florida hospitals among nation's best in their specialties

Of 74 South Florida hospitals considered for U.S. News & World Report's coveted "Best Hospitals" ranking, 13 made the list among the nation's best in their specialties.

In its 23rd year, the magazine's "Best Hospitals" report — not to be confused with two other hospital rankings released in the past couple of months by other groups — judges medical centers by their ability to excel in handling the toughest cases in their fields.

The Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, for example, ranked as the 10th best hospital in Florida — and No. 1 nationally in the field of ophthalmology. The Cleveland Clinic in Weston, meanwhile, ranked as Florida's seventh best, and 48th nationally in gastroenterology.

By contrast, The Leapfrog Group and Consumer Reports both came out recently with separate rankings that based hospitals' scores on their safety records. No hospitals that ranked high on both safety reports also made U.S. News' best list, though some made two out of the three.

In addition to the national "best" lists, U.S. News released state and regional rankings, based on how well hospitals performed nationally on their specialty scores. Below is how South Florida's top 13 ranked, by order of their regional standing, with their statewide rankings in parenthesis:

1. South Miami Hospital (4)

2. University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital (6)

3. Cleveland Clinic in Weston (7)

4. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami (10)

*5. Baptist Hospital of Miami (12)

*5. Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines (12)

7. Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach (16)

8. Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables (18)

9. Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale (19)

*10. Homestead Hospital (20)

*10. University of Miami Hospital (20)

*12. Boca Raton Regional Hospital (23)

*12. Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood (23)

*These hospitals tied in their rankings, taking up the next numerical position. Because there were two fifth places, for example, there is no sixth.