Listen to part one of our two-part panel series about the Washington Monthly’s “Best Hospitals for America” ranking, which measures individual hospitals on how well they save lives, save money, and serve everyone – especially low-income and minority populations within their communities. 

How do we measure our hospitals? Who decides which hospitals are “well regarded”?

The “Best Hospitals for America” ranking measures hospitals with a new methodology that gives us a more accurate picture of hospital quality looking at quality of care, but also two other metrics no other ranking system has ever used. The first is civic leadership, and the second metric is value of care. The Monthly’s different approach yields radically different results from the U.S. News top 20. 

Guests:

• Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute (data partner of the Washington Monthly)

• Kate Walsh, president and CEO of the Boston Medical Center (BMC is ranked #2 on WM’s Best Safety Net Hospitals for America list, #4 on the Best Major Teaching Hospitals for America list, and #10 on our overall top 20 Best Hospitals for America list)

• Paul Glastris, editor in chief of the Washington Monthly, co-author of the book The Other College Guide, and editor of the e-book Elephant in the Room: Washington in the Bush Years

• Phillip Longman, policy director at Open Markets Institute; co-author of “An Epidemic of Greed” in the July special issue of Washington Monthly; author of Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care is Better than Yours

Related Materials:

• Watch part two of this series here, which focuses on how concentration in the American hospital sector is creating a crisis in care quality.

• The Washington Monthly and Lown Institute “Best Hospitals for America” ranking.