Congratulations to Kansas University Hospital!

The institution, which serves the entire state, had nine specialty programs ranked among the top 50 in the nation in ratings released by U.S. News and World Reports. Notably, it was the only hospital in Kansas or in the Kansas City metropolitan area to have ANY programs among the magazine’s top-ranked facilities.

The magazine also listed three more KU Hospital programs among the top 25 percent in the nation.

An analysis of nearly 5,000 hospitals across the country produced the findings, according to the magazine. The results were based on patient survival rates, staffing levels and reputations among doctors, among other factors.

The rankings also showed that the KU Hospital’s cancer program leaped into the nation’s top 30, landing at No. 27.

All Kansans should be pleased with this report. The rankings certainly underscore the hospital’s excellence and the importance of this top-flight facility to the state of Kansas and its residents.

To give credit where it’s due, here’s the list of the hospital’s programs that made the “top 50” list: Cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; diabetes and endocrinology; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; geriatrics; nephrology; neurology and neurosurgery; and pulmonology. Gynecology, orthopedics and urology are the three additional programs cited as being in the nation’s top 25 percent.

It’s an amazing record for the hospital, and certainly sets a standard that the Medical Center and the state’s universities should strive to emulate. Although several members of the Kansas Board of Regents are known to pooh-pooh rankings such as these, what a story they would have to tell if all their institutions all earned such badges of quality!

Again, congratulations to KU Hospital, its leaders and all its staff members.