In this year's survey of the Best Hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report, NYU Medical Center achieved its best showing in many years. Ten specialty areas-two more than last year-ranked among the top hospitals nationwide in the 17 medical specialties surveyed. NYU's Cancer and Ear, Nose & Throat programs joined this elite group of institutions for the first time in some years, and the Orthopedics (listed as Hospital for Joint Diseases) and Urology programs advanced eight and 26 places respectively, since last year's ranking. For the 16th consecutive year, the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine was ranked #1 in New York State.

Only one other hospital system in New York City is ranked in more specialties than NYU, and NYU has more than twice the number of specialties than the remaining ranked hospitals in the city.

To qualify as one of the 50 Best, a hospital must meet rigorous standards. Of all 6,007 U.S. medical centers (military and veterans hospitals are not included), just 176 were deemed to be high enough in quality to be ranked in even a single specialty. For each specialty, board-certified physicians were selected at random from the American Medical Association's master file of the nation's 811,000 doctors. These specialists were asked to list up to five hospitals they believe to be the best in their specialty, regardless of cost or location.

Here is a summary of NYU's placements: