News magazine ranks Oaklawn among best hospitals in Michigan

MARSHALL – Oaklawn Hospital has been ranked among Michigan’s best hospitals in a new report by U.S. News & World Report ranking 5,000 of the nation’s hospitals.

The news organization recently issued a “Best Regional Hospital” report for 2015-16, ranking Oaklawn as No. 16 among 175 hospitals in Michigan.

Oaklawn’s rankings may be viewed by visiting health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and filling in the name “Oaklawn Hospital” in the first search field.

U.S. News ranked Oaklawn as “high performing” in treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as well as heart failure.

“It’s very gratifying that the efforts of the entire Oaklawn team is being recognized in this way,” said Oaklawn President and CEO Ginger Williams. “It’s a testament to the hard work that’s achieved every day by our staff, and a demonstration of our commitment to the communities we serve.”

The annual rankings are in their 26th year, and recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients, the news organization reported.

For 2015-16, U.S. News evaluated hospitals in 16 adult specialties and ranked the top 50 in most of the specialties. Less than 3 percent of the nearly 5,000 hospitals that were analyzed for Best Hospitals 2015-16 were nationally ranked in even one specialty.

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. U.S. News used the same data, as well as the new Best Hospitals for Common Care ratings, first published in May, to produce the state and metro rankings.

“A Best Hospital has demonstrated expertise in treating the most challenging patients,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “A hospital that emerged from our analysis as one of the best has much to be proud of.”

The rankings will appear in the U.S. News “Best Hospitals 2016” guidebook, available in August from U.S. News.