– Tampa General and Moffitt again earn Top 50 ranking in U.S. News & World Report –
USF Health Physicians Help Hospital Partners Climb in National Rankings

Tampa, FL (July 14, 2008) — Once again USF Health’s hospital partners have been ranked among the nation’s top 50 hospitals by U.S. News & World Report. The rankings are on newsstands this week in the America’s Best Hospitals 2008 edition of the magazine. Tampa General Hospital and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute – two primary teaching affiliates of the USF College of Medicine – were among only 170 hospitals that met the rigorous standards for excellence in one or more specialties.

USF Health faculty head up five of the seven specialties at TGH that made this year’s Top 50 chart — Ear, Nose and Throat, Endocrinology, Gynecology, Kidney Disease, and Urology.

“USF is proud that the rest of the nation is finding out what we already know –- that with the work that USF and TGH are doing in recruiting world-class clinical and academic leaders and faculty, the hospital and medical school are getting the recognition they deserve,” said Stephen K. Klasko, MD, MBA, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the College of Medicine.

“I especially want to recognize the terrific performance of our colleagues in Urology, which jumped from #41 to #27 in the specialty rankings. Congratulations also to our Department of Nephrology at TGH which climbed from #41 to #34,” Dr. Klasko said. “In addition, Moffitt Cancer Center, where we continue to have a strong scholarly presence, ranked #16 on the list of America’s Best Hospitals for Cancer.”

These rankings don’t include the department rankings at Moffitt, which currently include Oncology and ENT.

Tampa General achieved the magazine’s Top 50 recognition for its highest number of specialties ever. For the first time, the categories of Endocrinology (39th) and Heart and Heart Surgery (42nd) made the grade. The other five medical services — Ear, Nose and Throat (37th ), Gynecology (27th), Kidney Disease, also known as Nephrology (39th ), Orthopedics (25th ) and Urology (27th) — were also included in the 2007 edition of America’s Best Hospitals.

USF faculty physicians are the division chiefs for the following services at TGH: Nephrology – Stephen Rifkin, MD, associate professor of medicine; ENT – Paul K. Boyev, MD, assistant professor of otolaryngology; Gynecology – James Mayer, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology; Urology – Jorge Lockhart, MD, professor of urology. In addition, Mark Rumbak, MD, USF professor of medicine, leads the internal medicine service at TGH, the division that includes endocrinology.

U.S. News & World Report evaluated 5,453 medical centers nationwide (excluding veteran and military hospitals) for its 2008 Best Hospitals in America report. Of those, only 170 hospitals made the final overall ranking based on factors such as reputation, death rate, and care-related factors like nursing, advanced technology and credentialing by professional organizations. The hospitals were ranked in 16 specialty areas.

For more information, visit the U.S. News & World Report America’s Best Hospitals website.

– USF Health –

USF Health is dedicated to creating a model of health care based on understanding the full spectrum of health. It includes the University of South Florida’s colleges of medicine, nursing, and public health; the schools of biomedical sciences as well as physical therapy & rehabilitation sciences; and the USF Physicians Group. With $308 million in research funding last year, USF is one of the nation’s top 63 public research universities and one of Florida’s top three research universities.