Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was recently ranked as one of the top hospitals in the country in U.S. News and World Report's 2007 report of America's Best Hospitals. When compared with over 5,000 institutions, DHMC made the list along with 172 other hospitals and scored within the top 50 for its care in gynecology, digestive disorders and cancer treatment.
The rankings, generated by the research company RTI International, look at 16 different specialties and base their findings on a combination of empirical data retrieval and feedback from physicians.
To succeed in the data-based component of the ranking, a hospital must be a member of the Council of Teaching Hospitals, have an administrative relationship with a medical school, or have a relatively high number of cutting-edge services.
Jason Aldous, the media relations coordinator for DHMC, noted that despite the ongoing debate as to how important such rankings are regarding the overall credibility of a medical institution, the report puts DHMC on a tier with major hospitals in large urban centers.
"It is important because it is a recognition at a national level of the great work we do here," Aldous said. "It is based on data and it does involve peer review based on doctors, so it is not simply a popularity contest. There is really some value to it. I think sometimes given since we are of one or two medical centers that are not in metropolitan areas, we are not seen as on that leading edge of the medical field. It is important that we are seen on that upper end of health care providers not just in the region but in the whole country."
Although DHMC fosters the sense of a small community, he added, it also draws a large number of patients from places other than the Upper Valley.
Aldous also said that an additional component that sets DHMC apart from the other hospitals on the list is its commitment to research and its reputation as a prestigious teaching hospital.
"The other way we stand out is that not all the hospitals are academic medical centers and DHMC has that research and education component that some of the for-profit hospitals on the list don't have," Aldous said. "They are doing a tremendous amount of work here -- what these Dartmouth doctors are doing in addition to seeing patients is teaching and research."
One such physician, Lee Witters M.D., a professor of medicine, biochemistry, and biology, had his own perspective regarding the rankings.
Witters said that the primary importance of the report is its implication for students and area residents.
"I think the bottom line is that it is a pretty good hospital with pretty good doctors, and Dartmouth students ought to feel pretty happy about having the DHMC there and should feel pretty confident that they can handle anything that comes up with any Dartmouth student," Witters said. "That wouldn't be something you would necessarily expect because it's a rural hospital, but it is a rather large academic medical center that draws in patients from four states."
Witters, who himself has received care at the center, said that he feels comfortable bringing his own family to DHMC and has never felt a need to seek care at other institutions.
He expressed skepticism regarding the ranking system used and added that any such report must be taken with a grain of salt because the criteria is arbitrary.
"How can they be so arbitrary and try to be quantitative?" Witters said. "Did they come to the hospital and interview people who had been patients there? I think you have to look very carefully at the criteria they use. I am neither trying to hype nor degrade the DHMC, and I have great confidence in it for myself as an institution."
Though this is the sixth straight year that DHMC has been recognized by the publication for its success in oncology treatment, it had not made the cut in the other two areas -- gynecology and gastroenterology -- for several years.
DHMC placed 50th for gastroenterology, 36th for oncology and 34th for gynecology.
