The 5 Best Teaching Hospitals in the Plains Region

Only 137 hospitals, out of almost 5,000 hospitals in the U.S., earned national recognition in at least one of the 16 adult specialties examined in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings of American hospitals.  Nine of those 137 were Plains Region teaching hospitals.

Atop the list of the 5 Best Teaching Hospitals in the Plains Region is the internationally renown Mayo Clinic.  Based in Rochester, Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic rated not only as the best regionally, but 2nd best in the entire nation.  With more than 1,100 beds, the Mayo Clinic earned national rankings in 15 of 16 adult specialties, including best in the nation rankings for 8 specialties (Diabetes & Endocrinology, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Gynecology, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Pulmonology, and Urology).

St. Louis based Barnes-Jewish Hospital earned national rankings in 14 of 16 specialties, with its strongest specialty being Pulmonology, where it ranked 8th nationally.  With over 1,300 beds, Barnes-Jewish Hospital is one of the preeminent teaching hospitals both regionally and nationally.

The 623 bed, Kansas City based, University of Kansas Hospital earned national rankings in 12 specialties.  Pulmonology and Geriatrics were its strongest specialties, where it ranked 17th nationally in both areas.

The University of Iowa Hospital, the 685 bed teaching hospital based in Iowa City, ranked 7th nationally in Ophthalmology and 8th nationally in the Ear, Nose & Throat specialty.  Overall, the University of Iowa Hospital earned national rankings in 7 specialties.

Rounding out the the 5 Best Teaching Hospitals in the Plains Region is St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City.  This 410 bed teaching hospital earned national rankings in 7 specialties.  Its two best specialties were Gynecology, where it ranked 19th nationally, and Cardiology & Heart Surgery where it ranked 20th.

To find other teaching hospitals in the Plains Region and elsewhere, visit our U.S. Teaching Hospitals resource page.

Best Teaching Hospitals in the Plains Region

Verifying Florida Health Licenses

According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, well over 450,000 Floridian's are employed as healthcare practitioners.  This includes a wide variety of occupations, ranging from doctors and nurses to orthotists and prosthetists.  More than a dozen regulatory boards are involved in licensing healthcare practitioners in the State.

Florida, like most States, provides online tools that allow the general public to verify the health license status of practitioners that are licensed by the State.  Through Florida's health license verification portal, visitors can lookup the license status for more than 120 health profession designations. This includes checking on the health license status of  doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, nurses, podiatrists, optometrists, occupational therapists, physical therapists and acupuncturtists.  Moreover, the Florida health license verification tool provides search results that includes a drilldown feature that offers additional information about each licensee.

To access Florida's primary online health license verification tool, visit our Florida Medical License Lookup page.  Besides the Florida's primary health license verification tool, it includes links to two other important online license status tools operated by the State.  One is the State operated portal to verify the license status of insurance professionals, for those wanting to confirm the license status of health insurance agents and brokers.  The other online tool is one that permits user to verify the license status of Florida's institutional healthcare providers, like hospitals, surgery centers and nursing homes.