Awards and Achievements

Being recognized for quality patient care is a hospital's highest recognition. Recent awards and achievements for patient care include:

• Best Hospital in San Diego – Ranked No. 1 hospital system in San Diego and No. 6 in California for 2020-21 by U.S. News and World Report.
• More Top Ranked Specialties – Ranked among the nation’s best in 10 adult medical and surgical specialties for 2020-21 by U.S. News and World Report – more than any hospital system in San Diego: Pulmonology & Lung Surgery (No. 10); Geriatrics (No. 13); Neurology & Neurosurgery (No. 22); Cardiology & Heart Surgery (No. 31); Gastroenterology and GI Surgery (No. 32); Nephrology (No. 34); Urology (No. 36); Orthopedics (No. 42); Gynecology (No. 46); and Cancer (No. 47). Only approximately 3 percent of the more than 4,500 hospitals included in the analysis ranked in even one specialty.
• One of the Top 10 Academic Medical Centers for Patient Care – Its superior performance in quality patient care earned it a 2019 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award from Vizient, Inc.
  
• "A's" for Hospital Safety and Top Teaching Hospital – UC San Diego Health's hospitals in both La Jolla and Hillcrest earned top marks from The Leapfrog Group in 2020 for keeping patients safe from preventable harm and medical errors. It was also named a 2018 Top Teaching Hospital from The Leapfrog Group for its achievements in patient safety and quality.
  
• Nursing Excellence – Maintains Magnet status from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, considered among the highest recognitions for nursing excellence and innovation in nursing practice
  
• Outstanding Stroke Care – In 2020, earned the American Heart Association's / American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and is listed on their Stroke Elite Plus and Type 2 Diabetes honor rolls.
  
• Excellence in Maternity Care – In 2020, one of only two health care systems in the county to meet all the maternity care standards identified by The Leapfrog Group as indicative of quality maternity and neonate care
  
• Information Technology to Enhance Patient Care and Comfort – Listed among "HealthCare’s Most Wired" hospital systems by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) in 2020.
  
• LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Leader – Scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s LGBTQ Healthcare Equality Index for the eighth year straight in 2020.