The Far West's Top 5 Teaching Hospitals in 2021

Extracted from the most recent U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings of American hospitals, the Far West's top 5 teaching hospitals in 2021 include 4 of the top 20 hospitals in the country.  Only 175 hospitals earned national recognition in at least one of 15 adult specialties examined in the USNWR survey. The five teaching hospitals listed here earned national recognition in at least eleven adult specialties and a top 20 national ranking in at least six of those specialties.  While the Far West region of the U.S. is home to many more teaching hospitals, these five institutions earned the most distinction in the USNWR survey:

The Far West's Top 5 Teaching Hospitals in 2021

UCLA Medical Center
Location:  Los Angeles
Top 20 Overall Ranking Nationally:  Yes (3rd)

Nationally Ranked Adult Specialties:  14 of 15

Adult Specialties Ranked in Top 20 Nationally:  13
#3 in Diabetes & Endocrinology

#4 in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery

#4 in Geriatrics

#4 in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery

#5 in Ophthalmology

#5 in Orthopedics

#5 in Psychiatry

#8 in Cancer

#8 in Neurology & Neurosurgery
#8 in Urology

#9 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery
#9 in Rheumatology

#12 in Ear, Nose & Throat

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Location:  Los Angeles
Top 20 Overall Ranking Nationally:  Yes (6th)
Nationally Ranked Adult Specialties:  11 of 15
Adult Specialties Ranked in Top 20 Nationally:  10
#2 in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery

#3 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery
#3 in Orthopedics 
#3 in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery
#7 in Urology
#9 in Cancer
#10 in Geriatrics

#11 in Neurology & Neurosurgery

#12 in Gynecology
#18 in Ear, Nose & Throat

UCSF Medical Center
Location:  San Francisco
Top 20 Overall Ranking Nationally:  Yes (9th)
Nationally Ranked Adult Specialties:  14 of 15
Adult Specialties Ranked in Top 20 Nationally:  11
#1 in Neurology & Neurosurgery
#5 in Ear, Nose & Throat

#6 in Diabetes & Endocrinology
#6 in Psychiatry

#7 in Rheumatology
#9 in Geriatrics

#9 in Ophthalmology
#11 in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery

#11 in Cancer
#12 in Urology
#16 in Orthopedics

Stanford Hospital
Location:  Stanford, CA
Top 20 Overall Ranking Nationally:  Yes (12th)
Nationally Ranked Adult Specialties:  11 of 15
Adult Specialties Ranked in Top 20 Nationally:  9
#8 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery
#9 in Gynecology
#12 in Cancer
#12 in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery
#13 in Ear, Nose & Throat
#13 in Neurology & Neurosurgery
#13 in Orthopedics

#15 in Geriatrics
#20 in Urology

Keck Hospital of USC
Location:  Los Angeles
Top 20 Overall Ranking Nationally:  No

Nationally Ranked Adult Specialties:  12 of 17
Adult Specialties Ranked in Top 20 Nationally:  6
#10 in Urology
#11 in Geriatrics
#12 in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery
#13 in Ophthalmology
#14 in Cardiology & Heart Surgery
#20 in Cancer

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

Cancer Deaths in the Rocky Mountain Region

Cancer is the number two cause of death in USA, accounting for more than 599,000 deaths in 2019, or about 21% of all deaths in the United States that year.  Thanks to improvements in medical science, the death rate from cancer dropped modestly from 1999 to 2019. In 1999 the U.S. experienced 197.0 cancer deaths per 100,000 population, but by 2019 the cancer death rate had dropped 7.3%, to 182.7 deaths per 100,000 population.  The favorable national trend in cancer deaths was also seen in the five-state Rocky Mountain region, although the improvement was more modest, with the region's death rate declining only 3.5% between 1999 and 2019.  That said, the Rocky Mountain region had the lowest cancer death rate of any region of the U.S. in both 1999 and 2019.  The region's 2019 cancer death rate of 139.7 deaths per 100,000 population was more than 23% lower than the national average.  A deeper look at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, reveals the following about cancer deaths in the Rocky Mountain region:

Cancer Deaths in the Rocky Mountain Region

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
CO	5,863	6,950	7,986
ID	2,162	2,458	2,928
MT	1,854	1,914	2,099
UT	2,393	2,555	3,289
WY	899	936	1,016
Region	13,171	14,813	17,318
U.S.	549,838	567,628	599,601
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
CO	138.7	139.8	138.7
ID	169.5	158.1	163.8
MT	206.6	194.5	196.4
UT	108.6	93.8	102.6
WY	182.8	167.2	175.5
Region	144.8	137.2	139.7
U.S.	197.0	185.0	182.7

(*) number of cancer deaths per 100,000 population

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on July 17, 2021