U.S. News: 17 Best Hospitals in America

What are the best hospitals in the country? U.S. News may have the answer in its 2012-2013 Best Hospitals Honor Roll.

The 17 medical centers on this list make up less than 0.4 percent of the nearly 5,000 hospitals nationwide. Since 1990, U.S. News has ranked the top hospitals for patient care. In those 22 years, the magazine has set out to name the top skilled hospitals for high-stake medical situations, whether it's performing major surgery on a 90-year-old man or treating more spinal tumors in a few weeks than some community hospitals see in a full year.

These 17 hospitals scored at or near the top in at least six of the 16 Best Hospitals medical specialties, which include cardiology and heart surgery, cancer and psychiatry to name a few. Hospitals earned points for specialty rankings, and the scoring also factored in objective measures such as staffing, survival rates and patient safety data. To make the Honor Roll, a hospital had to earn at least one point in each of six specialties.

For the first time in 21 years, the reigning top hospital on the list has been replaced. From U.S. News, here are the top 17 Best Hospitals in the U.S.:

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