U.S. News & World Report Recognizes Us: See How We Performed and Work Still to Come

U.S. News & World Report released its latest hospital rankings. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, we continue to be regionally recognized and have once again received several honors.

CRMH maintained its ranking as “Best Hospital” in the region and received a high-performing rating in 15 procedures and conditions and one specialty including:

• Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair  
• Colon Cancer Surgery 
• COPD
• Gynecological Cancer Surgery
• Heart Arrhythmia
• Heart Attack
• Heart Bypass Surgery
• Hip Fracture
• Hip Replacement
• Knee Replacement
• Leukemia, Lymphoma & Myeloma
• Lung Cancer Surgery
• Pacemaker Implantation
• Prostate Cancer Surgery
• TAVR
• Urology specialty
• Maternity and prenatal care (announced separately in Dec. 2024)

Of the 15 procedures and conditions, CRMH received high performing in two new categories this year: Pacemaker Implantation and Heart Arrhythmia. Additionally, CNRV earned high-performing status in kidney failure.

Being recognized as high performing is the highest distinction a hospital can earn for a procedure and condition or specialty, noting excellent clinical outcomes, nursing care and patient experience.

Despite that good news, CRMH’s ranking lowered to eighth this year due to a combination of factors. First, lagging data for some measures dating back as far as 2023 impacted us.  

Changes in how procedures and conditions are scored were also contributing factors, with mortality and patient volume being the most heavily weighted measures. Additionally, more peers received high performing ratings than in past years, bumping them up higher in the rankings.

While we’ve made significant improvements in lowering mortality rates through the work of our Mortality Outcomes team (established two years ago), it will take time for those measures to be replaced by more recent, positive trends.

We are proud of the dedicated work that has landed us a spot on the “Best Hospitals” list, and we must redouble our efforts as we strive to provide the high-quality care our community expects. Our approach to track structural measures, like nurse staffing, is one example of those efforts. Tracking measures like these allows us to better understand opportunities throughout the organization and see better performance in programs.

“The daily focus on providing the right care, at the right place and right time will always be a priority in patient care,” says Chief Quality Officer Dr. Suzy Kraemer. “Thanks to the work of Carilion team members, we continue to see improvement in three important domains: mortality, patient discharge to home and patient experience. These will all help to improve our care and future years’ performance for US News and World Report.”

To read more about the rankings, see Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital on the U.S. News & World Report website. For more information, contact Taylor Naff, Quality Programs, at tgnaff@carilionclinic.org or 434-429-4156.