For the third
straight year, Greenville Memorial Hospital has been ranked as having one of
the nation’s top 40 diabetes/endocrinology programs. Under a new metro
ranking, GMH has also been ranked as #1 in the Greenville, Mauldin, Easley
metro area, according to U.S. News Media & World Report’s 2011-12 Best Hospitals rankings. The
rankings, annually published by U.S. News for the past 22 years, are available
online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals.
The core mission of Best Hospitals is to help guide patients who need an
especially high level of care because of a difficult surgery, a challenging
condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age.
Greenville Memorial also ranked as high performing in
cancer, cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology,
nephrology, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology and urology. Improved
diabetes care, outcomes and outreach is a priority goal at GHS because of the
wide-ranging impact of diabetes in our community. The end result is an
integrated cohesive approach that has all the oars pulling in the same
direction for maximum effectiveness and improved patient care.
The diabetes/endocrinology
program, ranked #36, has developed and implemented best-practices protocols to
help ensure that patients receive safe diabetes management while hospitalized.
Diabetes is at epidemic levels in the Upstate, and more than 20 percent of
adult patients admitted to GMH have diabetes. Poorly managed blood sugar levels
can lead to complications, including surgical-site infections and slower
healing.
Covering 94 metro areas in the
U.S., the regional
hospital rankings complement the national rankings by including hospitals
with solid performance nearly at the level of nationally ranked institutions.
The regional rankings are aimed primarily at consumers whose care may not
demand the special expertise found only at a nationally ranked Best Hospital or
who may not be willing or able to travel long distances for medical care. The
U.S. News metro rankings give many such patients and their families more
options of hospitals within their community and in their health insurance
network.
Hard numbers stand behind the
rankings in most specialties—death rates, patient safety, procedure volume, and
other objective data. Responses to a national survey, in which physicians were
asked to name hospitals they consider best in their specialty for the toughest
cases, also were factored in. Click here to learn more about Greenville Memorial Hospital rankings on the US News & World Report list.