For the 13^th consecutive year, Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans has been named by U.S. News & World Report as the Best Hospital in Louisiana and the No. 1 hospital in the New Orleans metro area. The ranking includes Ochsner Medical Center – West Bank and Ochsner Baptist. Ochsner Children’s Hospital was similarly honored last year and is the current U.S. News’ best hospital for kids in Louisiana.

U.S. News also named Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center as the best hospital in Southwestern Louisiana for the second straight year. This includes Ochsner Lafayette General Surgical Hospital, Ochsner Lafayette General Orthopedic Hospital and Ochsner Cancer Center of Acadiana. It was also named the No. 4 hospital in Louisiana and the Best Regional Hospital for Equitable Access.

“These rankings show that we take care of our communities at the highest level. We follow established, nationally recognized best practices in every situation and with every patient,” said Tiffany Murdock, MSN, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief nursing officer of Ochsner Health. “I think what sets Ochsner apart is that we have a global view of healthcare. It’s about caring for the patient and their entire family. As a regional destination center that excels in specialty care, patients travel from many other states to Ochsner because of that commitment. That speaks to the level of service we provide.”

U.S. News calculates the Best Hospitals rankings by evaluating each hospital’s performance on objective measures such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and level of nursing care.

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Murdock said that ensuring each patient receives the same high level of care starts by hiring people who fit the Ochsner Health culture and are committed to its values of care, respect and meeting patients where they are.

“Their education and skill sets are very important, but the humanity that a person shows is what truly makes a difference,” she said. “We can teach someone the skills they need, but that compassion has to come from within.”

U.S. News also identified several Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans specialties for being among the best in the country. Six specialties were named among the top 10 percent in the nation for being “high performing” – gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, and urology. Also, 16 of the 20 procedures and conditions U.S. News ranks were designated as “high performing,” including heart surgeries and cardiovascular treatments, multiple types of cancer treatments, as well as care for patients with COPD, kidney failure, receiving hip and knee replacements and recovering from a stroke. This designation puts Ochsner in the top 10-20 percent in the nation for treating patients with these conditions.

Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center also received recognition for being home to seven “high performing” procedures and conditions: congestive heart failure, colon cancer surgery, hip replacement, kidney failure, knee replacement, leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma; and stroke. “High performing” procedures and conditions were also awarded to Slidell Memorial East for kidney failure and pneumonia care and to Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport – Academic Medical Center for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma treatments. The Best Hospitals Specialty rankings and Procedures & Conditions ratings are based on patient outcomes and objective quality measures.

Being recognized for expertise in such a variety of subspecialties speaks to Ochsner’s systemwide programmatic strategy.

“We spend a lot of time thinking about how we grow programs to achieve the best positive results for our patients. To have a successful program, you need people on your teams who are very good at a lot of different things,” said Robert Hart, MD, chief physician executive at Ochsner Health and president of Ochsner Clinic. “It’s not just about one surgeon or one physician who does something really well. It’s a collaborative effort–from front desk staff directing patients  to the nurses and medical technicians in the clinic rooms to the food service staff who provide meals to patients and visitors and our environmental services team that keep our hospitals clean and safe. That’s what has made us the number one hospital in the state for so many years. There is a lot of individual effort, but it’s what we create as a whole that sets us apart.”

Dr. Hart added that the Ochsner Health leadership team encourages all departments to continually think about how they can improve quality outcomes and patient experiences, both immediately and in the long term.

“Innovation is coming from every direction in healthcare now,” Dr. Hart said. “We’re seeing so much growth in areas like augmented intelligence. The Covid pandemic probably advanced telemedicine and virtual medicine 10 years in a matter of months because everyone had to adapt. We look at those advances and ask ourselves how we can keep getting better, what we can learn from these innovations and how we can integrate them into our processes and still continue to provide patient-centered care.”

Even after 13 straight years, Dr. Hart said the recognition as Louisiana’s best hospital never becomes boring or old news for the Ochsner Health team.

“It’s validation for the hard work everyone puts in at Ochsner every day. It’s quite an accomplishment,” he said. “We always want to drive innovation in healthcare and make sure Louisiana is on the forefront of some of the best things happening in healthcare. This U.S. News ranking proves that we have the team and resources to contribute and participate in the most advanced levels of treatment and compassionate care.”

For more information on the U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, visit health.usnews.com/best-hospitals. To learn more about Ochsner Health and its hospitals across Louisiana, visit www.ochsner.org.