U.S. News & World Report names Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center among best for cancer care

July 21, 2015

Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center has been named the best for cancer care in New England for the 15th straight year and fourth overall in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in their 26th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients. The rankings are available at health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in the U.S. News "Best Hospitals 2016" guidebook, available in August.

Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center is a collaboration of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital, dedicated to providing comprehensive, specialized care for adults with cancer and related diseases.

"Our compassionate and talented caregivers provide the best care possible for our patients and their families every day," said Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD, president and CEO of Dana-Farber. "Focusing on the needs of our patients, our approach integrates research into treatment, combining our deep expertise and knowledge of the biology of cancer."

"This national recognition is a testament to the remarkable Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center team," said Betsy Nabel, MD, president of Brigham and Women's Health Care. "Our staff deliver the most advanced treatments to patients in need and conduct scientific research that brings hope to those around the world touched by cancer."

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.

"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."

In rankings by state and metro area, U.S. News recognized hospitals that perform nearly at the level of their nationally ranked peers in one or more specialties, as well as hospitals that excel in multiple common procedures and conditions.

In June, U.S. News ranked Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center as the No. 1 pediatric cancer program in the country.

U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition or extra risk because of age or multiple health problems. Objective measures such as patient survival and safety data, adequacy of nurse staffing and other data largely determined the rankings in most specialties.

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.