Just one Columbia-area hospital is ranked among the best in South Carolina in new ratings
Lexington Medical Center was named one of the best hospitals in South Carolina for the fourth consecutive year, according to the latest rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.
Additionally, Lexington Medical Center was rated as the top hospital in the Midlands — for the third consecutive year. It also was the only Columbia-area medical facility named among the top eight hospitals in the Palmetto State, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Lexington Medical Center was named the No. 3 hospital in South Carolina, according to the rankings. In 2022 and 2023, Lexington Medical Center had been rated the second-best hospital in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report.
Both of those years, the only hospital rated above Lexington Medical Center was MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston, which was again the state’s No. 1 hospital in the most recent rankings. This marks the 10th consecutive year that MUSC in Charleston was the top hospital in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.
This year, Roper Hospital in Charleston was the second-ranked medical facility in South Carolina, according to U.S. News & World Report.
“We are proud of our outstanding physicians, nurses, clinicians and staff who continue to provide exceptional care to meet the needs of our communities,” Lexington Medical Center President and CEO Tod Augsburger said Tuesday in a news release. “Being recognized as Best Hospital by U.S. News & World Report ... shows our continued commitment to delivering advanced medicine for the well-being of our patients and their families. Achieving this prestigious ranking shows the hard work and dedication our team has to taking care of our friends, families and neighbors here in the Midlands.”
In 2021, Lexington Medical Center was rated the fifth-best hospital in the Palmetto State, according to U.S. News & World Report. No other Midlands hospital has been recognized as one of South Carolina’s best in the past four years by the news site.
In determining its rankings, U.S. News & World Report listed Lexington Medical Center as high performing in treating 10 adult procedures and conditions. That includes colon cancer surgery, heart failure, heart attack, back surgery (spinal fusion), hip replacement, knee replacement, prostate cancer surgery, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in addition to the combined procedure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
Lexington Medical Center is also generally regarded as one of the safest hospitals in South Carolina in the biannual Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, where it was given a B rating in each of the 2024 spring rankings.
In June, U.S. News & World Report recognized Lexington Medical Center as one of the “Best Regional Hospitals for Equitable Access.”
The rankings
U.S. News evaluated 91 hospitals in South Carolina, and only eight met its standards to earn a ranking.
Following Lexington Medical Center among South Carolina’s top hospitals in the rankings were Bon Secours St. Francis Health System (Greenville), Grand Strand Regional Medical Center (Myrtle Beach), McLeod Regional Medical Center (Florence), Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital and Spartanburg Medical Center. While not in the same order, the top eight hospitals from the 2023 report remained South Carolina’s top rated medical facilities in this year’s rankings.
Although not included in the statewide rankings, several area hospitals were considered high performing in multiple areas, including:
▪ MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown (heart attack, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, hip replacement)
▪ Prisma Health Baptist Hospital (colon cancer surgery, knee replacement, hip replacement)
▪ Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge Hospital (diabetes)
▪ Prisma Health Richland Hospital (heart failure, heart attack, stroke)
▪ Prisma Health Tuomey Hospital (heart failure)
▪ MUSC Health — Orangeburg (heart failure)
U.S. News says its list of best hospitals was determined by each hospital’s performance using measures such as survival rates, complication rates, patient experience and level of nursing care. The report’s methodology factors in data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, American Hospital Association, professional organizations and medical specialists.
According to U.S. News, it evaluated nearly 5,000 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions, and only 11% of those hospitals earned a Best Hospitals ranking.
“A ‘Best Hospital’ recognition empowers patients to seek out medical care from the best of the best to treat their illness or condition,” U.S. News & World Report Chief of Health Analysis and Managing Editor Ben Harder said in the release.
U.S. News advised readers not to reject emergency treatment based on the rankings.
About Lexington Medical Center
Lexington Medical Center treats nearly 100,000 patients each year at the emergency room, in addition to delivering more than 4,000 babies and performing more than 25,000 surgeries per year.
The 607-bed hospital in West Columbia has more than 8,700 employees.
SOURCE: Lexington Medical Center
Hospital Ranking Methodology
The U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals methodology evaluated each hospital’s performance using a variety of measures such as survival rates, complication rates, patient experience and level of nursing care. The Best Hospitals methodology factors in data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, American Hospital Association, professional organizations and medical specialists.
SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
There are 15 specialties where the hospitals are ranked, and they include:
▪ Cancer
▪ Cardiology and heart surgery
▪ Diabetes and endocrinology
▪ Ear, nose and throat
▪ Gastroenterology and GI surgery
▪ Geriatrics
▪ Obstetrics and gynecology
▪ Neurology and neurosurgery
▪ Orthopedics
▪ Pulmonology and lung surgery
▪ Rehabilitation
▪ Urology
In the remaining three specialties — ophthalmology, psychiatry and rheumatology — ranking is determined entirely by expert opinion, based on responses from three years of surveys of physician specialists who were asked to name the hospitals to which they would be inclined to refer their sickest patients.
SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report
