Best US Cancer Hospitals - 2007

Perhaps the most important decision a cancer patient has to make is where to find the right doctors and hospital to diagnose and treat your condition. So how do you go about finding the best?

One good way to start is be going to the US News and World Report website. There you will find coverage of the 2007 America’s Best Hospitals, including the top US Cancer Hospitals. Keep in mind that you will usually find the best doctors affiliated with the best hospitals.

US News and World Report has been putting this “best of hospitals” list together for a number of years now and does an excellent job. Their researchers look at the same issues we all should be considering when it comes to finding the a doctor or hospital for a serious medical condition such as cancer:

- How many cases a hospital treats each year
- The mortality rate (number of people that died) for patients treated at the hospital
- The availability of key diagnostic technology
- What referring physicians thinks about the hospital

Whether newly a newly diagnosed cancer patient or someone seeking a second opinion, it is important to know that not all cancer doctors or hospitals are the same, advertising aside. Studies show that hospitals (and doctors) that treat more of a particular condition tend to have better outcomes. These hospitals also tend to have more advanced diagnostic capabilities and more experienced technicians, which are critical not only in identifying new cancer patients but in following up existing cancer patients as well.

Take my wife’s experience with our local cancer facility. When I called to find out how many patients with Stage IIIb lung cancer their Radiation Therapy department treated a year, I learned that they treated 60 cases that were “sort of like” my wife’s condition. When I called MD Anderson, which is where she was eventually treated, we learned that they treated 400 cases exactly like my wife’s condition. Believe me…experience counts when you have got to get things right the first time!

Out of 5,462 US hospitals evaluated, only 173 met the researcher’s standards in one or more specialties. According to the US News and World Report article, “hospitals are ranked by specialty and not by specific procedures because the goal is to identify facilities that excel at treating a variety of demanding illnesses and procedures within a specialty.”

Below are the names of the top 10 US Cancer Hospitals, out a list of 50 hospitals that were include in the 2007 annual ranking.


#1 University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX

#2 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
# 3 Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD

#4 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

#5 Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA

#6 University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA

# 7 University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, IL

#8 UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

#9 Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

#10. Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA


Take Aways from this post:

1) Do you homework when it comes to selecting a doctor and hospital for your treatment. Significant variations exist among different doctors across the US when it comes to how they diagnose and treat the same types of cancers. You want to find doctors and hospitals with the best outcomes for treating your kind of cancer. Ask lots of questions.


2) Check to see if there is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Comprehensive Care Program near where you live. These facilities and their medical staff are recognized regional leaders in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Even if you are treated locally, consider getting a second opinion on your diagnosis and recommended treatment from an NCI-designated cancer program near you.