HOUSTON (July 7, 2006)—In its annual survey of “America’s Best Hospitals,” U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital among the nation’s top ten heart centers for the 16^th consecutive year. This year, Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s ranked # 6 on the list, up from # 8 in 2005. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital also placed in the rankings among the top 50 hospitals in the United States in three other specialties: digestive disorders, orthopaedics and ear, nose and throat.

“The consistency of this honor reflects the unwavering dedication and outstanding work of our physicians, scientists, and nursing and support staff,” said Denton A. Cooley, MD, founder, president and surgeon-in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute, and chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. “We value this recognition as we move forward to expand our world-renowned leadership in education, research and treatment of heart disease.”

The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital is the only heart center in Houston and the Southwest to be listed among the top ten in its category by the magazine.

“The high ranking of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s demonstrates the exceptional cardiovascular expertise of our medical staff and high level skill of our nurses, allied health professionals and support staff,” said David J. Fine, president and CEO, St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System. “We are also extremely proud of our other specialties that ranked among the nation’s finest, a recognition that St. Luke’s maintains a culture of excellence that results in remarkable accomplishments and outstanding patient care.”

The annual rankings, determined through criteria such as surgical volume, ratio of registered nurses to beds, number of medical and surgical discharges and recognition by peers, are designed to assist people in seeking the highest level of skills in diagnosing, treating or managing difficult medical conditions.  “America’s Best Hospitals” is the leading effort to compare all hospitals in the United States fairly and objectively.

 “We are gratified by this continued recognition. We believe this honor is a direct reflection of our high-quality programs in research and education, which enable the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s to improve treatments and constantly develop new ways to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases,” said James T. Willerson, MD, president-elect and medical director of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s.                                                                                                                               

The hospitals were evaluated using a model developed by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. To be eligible for ranking, a hospital had to meet at least one of three requirements: affiliation with a medical school, membership in the Council of Teaching Hospitals or availability of at least nine of 18 key medical technologies. Out of the 5,189 hospitals evaluated, only 176 qualified for ranking. The methodology was changed two years ago to reflect whether a hospital has received Nurse Magnet recognition, which means the American Nurses Association has formally recognized the hospital as meeting high standards of nursing excellence. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital was the first hospital in Texas to receive the coveted designation five years ago, and the hospital earned the designation award for a second time last year.

The 2006 top-ranked heart centers, appearing in the July 17 edition, which hits the newsstands July 10, are: 1) Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH; 2) Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; 3) Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore 4) Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston;  5) Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston; 6) Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, Houston; 7) Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; 8) New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell; 9) UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles; and 10) Barnes-Jewish Hospital/Washington University, St. Louis.     

St. Luke’s is the only hospital in Houston to earn rankings in the specialties of digestive disorders and orthopaedics,  # 34 and # 41 respectively For more information about the rankings, log on to U.S. News Online, www.usnews.com/besthospitals.

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St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System comprises the flagship St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, founded in 1954 by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas; St. Luke’s Community Medical Center–The Woodlands, opened in 2003; St. Luke’s Episcopal Health Charities, a charity devoted to assessing and enhancing community health, especially among the underserved; and Kelsey-Seybold Management, LLP, overseeing 21 area clinic locations. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital is home to the Texas Heart® Institute, founded in 1962 by Denton A. Cooley, MD, and consistently ranked among the top 10 cardiology and heart surgery centers in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Affiliated with several nursing schools and two medical schools, St. Luke’s serves as the primary adult teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine. St. Luke’s was the first hospital in Texas named a Magnet hospital for nursing excellence, and the Health System has been recognized by FORTUNE as among “100 Best Companies to Work For” (2002, 2004 and 2005) and by Houston Business Journal as a top employer in Houston for three consecutive years.