The methodology behind the U.S. News Best Hospitals specialty rankings will evolve during the coming year, to incorporate patient experience data into the specialty rankings this year. It will receive a 5 percent weight in each of the 12 data-driven specialty rankings. A hospital’s HCAHPS linear mean Overall score, which can range from 0 to 100, will be scaled to that 5 percent weight, such that a score of, for example, 85 out of 100 will earn 4.25 out of a maximum 5 percentage points toward its U.S. News score in each specialty, and a score of 90 out of 100 will earn 4.5 percentage points.
In the upcoming 2019-20 rankings, the use of all PSIs will be retired and the Patient Safety Score will be removed from their methodology. U.S. News concluded that these specific Patient Safety measures are not ideal for comparing hospital performance. As a result, PSIs will no longer be a part of U.S. News public reporting.
Read more: