Aurora news releases

Friday, July 12, 2002

"This is a wonderful honor for the team of doctors, nurses, and other professionals that works hard to provide the highest quality of care every day for our community," remarked Daniel Ladwig, M.D., chief of the Department of Orthopedics, St. Luke's Medical Center. "It's great to be recognized in this way."

Every year U.S. News and World Report ranks the top 205 medical centers in the country related to many specialty areas like gynecology, pediatrics, and orthopedics. The rankings are based on criteria including the availability of technology, reputation among physicians, mortality, patient volume, and a group of care-related factors such as nursing. The top 50 hospitals in each category are published.

"Ranked hospitals tend to adhere more closely to advanced treatment guidelines, to incorporate new findings into patient care, and to conduct research that gives desperately ill patients more options," the magazine reports in its upcoming edition. "These hospitals excel partly because their doctors perform large numbers of tricky and risky procedures."

St. Luke's Medical Center is ranked in the top 50 orthopedic centers in the U.S., and of the top 50, St. Luke's ranks in the top five for the number of orthopedic patients cared for and discharged. The volume data is based on Medicare patients from 1998 through 2000.

St. Luke's Medical Center is a part of Aurora Health Care, a community-owned Wisconsin health care provider and a nationally recognized leader in efforts to improve the quality of health care. Aurora has care sites in 75 communities in eastern Wisconsin.