U.S. News & World Report names East Cooper Medical Center a High Performing Hospital for back surgery, spinal fusion

East Cooper Medical Center is being recognized as a High Performing Hospital for 2021-22 by U.S. News & World Report.

The annual Procedures & Conditions ratings, now in their 7th year, are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive care for common conditions and elective procedures. These ratings extend the U.S. News mission of providing consumers with patient decision support beyond the Best Hospitals rankings, which are geared toward complex specialty care.

“Congratulations to our phenomenal staff on receiving this significant accolade from U.S. News and World Report,” said Patrick Downes, chief executive officer of East Cooper Medical Center.  “East Cooper Medical Center earned a “High Performing” ratings for back surgery, spinal fusion, which signifies that the care provided by our team was significantly better than the national average, as measured by factors such as patient outcomes.”

“High Performing” is the highest rating U.S. News awards for this type of care.

For the 2021-22 ratings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,750 medical centers nationwide in 17 procedures and conditions. Fewer than a third of all hospitals received any high-performing rating, and only 11 earned this rating in all procedures and conditions. The state and metro area rankings recognize hospitals that received high performing ratings across multiple areas of care.

“The orthopedic care teams at East Cooper Medical Center are very deserving of recognition for their diligence and dedication to the health and well-being of our community,” said Dr. Steven Poletti, orthopedic spine surgeon at East Cooper Medical Center and founding partner of the Southeastern Spine Institute. “This recognition from U.S. News and World Report is a great honor and it is my hope that local residents and visitors continue to confidently choose East Cooper for their orthopedic health needs.”

“This year’s expanded report from U.S. News includes new ratings for important procedures and conditions to help each patient pick the right hospital for the type of care they need,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “Hospitals faced incredible challenges this past year, and the best of them have provided great care throughout the pandemic and continue to offer excellent care today.”

The U.S. News Procedures & Conditions methodology is based entirely on objective measures of quality such as risk-adjusted outcome rates, volume, quality of nursing and other care-related indicators.  The Procedures & Conditions ratings were produced by U.S. News analysts.