Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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UW Hospital ranked among the best

The UW-Madison Hospital was hit with a double whammy of praise last week, ranking high among some of the best hospitals in the nation.


A report released last week by the United Network for Organ Sharing, a national reviewing organization, gave high scores to University Hospital in the area of kidney, pancreas and liver transplants. The report found UW-Hospital transplant patients are living longer, and transplanted organs are lasting longer than expected.


“It looks like that on a national level for kidney and pancreas transplant we are again coming out as a leading center in the nation,” said Dr. Hans Sollinger, chair of the transplant surgery division at University Hospital.


Sollinger said UW Hospital succeeds as well as it does mainly because of more experienced doctors combined with low turnover.
“The physicians who are responsible for the transplant efforts have been a constant team for the past 20 years,” Sollinger said. “We have a lot of people on board with a lot of experience.”


The report found UW-Madison’s program is one of only three centers in the nation with a higher than expected organ survival after kidney transplants with 92.6 percent of transplanted kidneys still functioning a year later, compared to an expected 90.8 percent. The program well surpassed the expectancy rate (91.3 percent) of transplanted kidneys after three years as well, with an astounding 95.4 percent of the organs surviving.


The center also placed high marks in the number of patients who continue to live nearly three years after kidney-pancreas transplants, which is at 97.3, staggering over the expectancy, 90.4 percent.
“We just do a lot of things a little bit better than most [hospitals],” Sollinger said. “We didn’t do anything magic or unusual.”


The UNOS report, which Sollinger deemed “absolutely accurate,” compiles performance data for all 270 transplant centers in the United States.
But UNOS was not the only report, which gave UW-Madison high marks. A recent report by U.S. News and World Report credits University Hospital as one of the leading clinics in the nation. This report, which ranked hospitals much like it ranks colleges and universities in its annual rankings, assigned points to various schools based on how busy it is, its various specialties, successes, etc. Most hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Mayo Clinic hold the top ten spots throughout, but University Hospital constantly interchanges with other lead hospitals in categories ranging from eye care to organ transplants.
The school ranked fifth in number of kidney transplants, with 226, first in kidney-pancreas transplants, with 52 and fifth in pancreas transplants with 16.


“The institutions cited in the 12th annual edition of ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ provide a degree of specialized care few community hospitals can match,” an article by reporter Avery Comarow explaining the methodology said. “This expertise is worth seeking out when quality of life, or life itself, is threatened. If you ever need to consult these rankings, you deserve the best chance of receiving the best care.”


The magazine went on to report individual standings for each of the 6,116 hospitals it reviewed looking for reputation, affiliations with medical schools, technological advances, number of procedures, number of successes and other such factors. UW-Madison ranked 33rd among best cancer centers, 23rd in treatment of digestive disorders, 21st in ear, nose and throat treatment, 47th in gynecology, 30th in heart treatment, 32nd in hormonal disorders, 46th in Kidney disorder treatment, 30th in orthopedics, 38th in reheumatology, 27th in urology and 16th in treatment for disorders pertaining to the eyes.

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