Providence Holy Cross Medical Center was ranked today one of the nation’s best hospitals for 2013-14 by U.S. News & World Report for three specialties – pulmonology, orthopedics and gastroenterology and GI surgery.

The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in its 24th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients. It was the second straight year the pulmonology program at Providence Holy Cross received the recognition.

“Highly reliable, highly satisfying, high quality care is our No. 1 priority. Our physicians, nurses and ancillary staff strive to provide exceptional care every day for every patient,” said Bernard Klein, M.D., the hospital’s chief executive. “Last year, we were honored for our pulmonary care and this year two additional specialties have been recognized. Our pledge is to continue to improve upon excellence in all our programs.”

U.S. News evaluates hospitals in 16 adult specialties. In most specialties, it ranks the nation’s top 50 hospitals and recognizes other high-performing hospitals that provide care at nearly the level of their nationally ranked peers.

“A hospital that emerges from our analysis as one of the best has much to be proud of,” said Avery Comarow, U.S. News health rankings editor. “Only about 15 percent of hospitals are recognized for their high performance as among their region’s best. Just 3 percent of all hospitals earn a national ranking in any specialty.”

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 added risk because of other health problems or age. Objective measures such as patient survival and safety data, the adequacy of nurse staffing levels 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. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metro rankings.

The rankings have been published at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2014 guidebook, available Aug. 27.

About Providence Health & Services

Providence Health & Services, Southern California, is a Catholic not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing quality and compassionate health care and reaching out to the poor and the vulnerable in the communities it serves. Providence Southern California operates five award-winning acute-care medical centers in the Los Angeles area, providing a full continuum of healthcare services: Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Providence Tarzana Medical Center, Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Centers in Torrance and San Pedro. The region also has numerous ancillary facilities including Hospice care, long-term care, numerous outpatient clinics, Providence Medical Institute, Providence High School and an affiliation with Facey Medical Group. For more information, visit California.providence.org.