New Designation Elevates UM BWMC On U.S. News And World Report’s List Of Best Hospitals

The University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UM BWMC), a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), is ranked No. 5 in Maryland and the Baltimore metropolitan area on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-2025 Best Hospital’s list, released in July.

The hospital was also rated “high performing” for the care it provides in eight common procedures: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer surgery, diabetes, heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, lung cancer surgery and pneumonia.

“COPD, pneumonia, stroke, lung cancer, colon cancer — these diseases have a significant impact on our population,” said Dr. Jason Heavner, senior vice president and chief medical officer at UM BWMC. “Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate of any cancer across the country.”

As Heavner explained, the hospital’s leadership is always assessing how they practice medicine and deliver care. He said UM BWMC prioritizes what the staff calls “the journey to being a high reliability organization” and focusing on four core tenants: reluctance to simplify, commitment to resilience, deference to expertise, and sensitivity to operations.

More simply, he said it’s about “being able to recruit experienced staff in each of the areas — medical staff, nursing staff and technologists — and giving them the resources they need for education and a knowledge base … and having the technology, the tools and equipment, like state-of-the-art robotics programs, in the hands of our surgeons.”

UM BWMC is one of three UMMS hospitals ranking among the top five hospitals in the state, according to U.S. News & World Report. The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC), the system’s academic flagship hospital, again ranked No. 2 in both Maryland and the Baltimore metro area, and ranked No. 43 nationally for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and No. 47 for cancer specialties. UM St. Joseph's Medical Center ranked No. 3 in the state and Baltimore metro area for the seventh consecutive year.

“Having three of our hospitals ranked so highly is indicative of the excellent academic-focused medical care available across our system,” said Mohan Suntha, president and chief executive officer of UMMS. “Our team members work hard every day to deliver compassionate, high-quality patient and family-centered care. This recognition speaks to the relentless commitment of our workforce to the health and well-being of communities we serve in Maryland and beyond.”

The U.S. News rankings are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or for common elective procedures. More than 60 hospitals in Maryland were evaluated by U.S. News & World Report for the annual list, with only eight meeting the high standards set by the third-party rating organization.

“This ranking reflects our team’s unwavering commitment to providing high-quality, compassionate care to our patients, their families and all those we serve,” said Kathy McCollum, president and chief executive officer of UM BWMC. “We owe this recognition to our medical staff, clinicians, nurses and team members who collaborate daily to provide the best possible outcomes to our patients and exceptional care to our community.”