Baptist Medical Center Named Among U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals 2007"
Recognized Nationally as One of the Top 50 Hospitals for Digestive Disorders

Jacksonville, Florida, July 13, 2007 -- Baptist Medical Center has been named among U.S. News & World Report's "Best Hospitals 2007," and among the top 50 in the country for digestive disorders. The magazine issue of America's "Best Hospitals 2007" will be available on newsstands Monday, July 16, 2007 (Issue date July 25).

The 2007 list is comprised of 173 hospitals nationwide, out of 5,462 hospitals evaluated, and is broken down into 16 specialties. According to the July 23, 2007 article in U.S. News & World Report, "Hospitals are ranked by specialty and not by specific procedures because the goal is to identify facilities that excel at treating a variety of demanding illnesses and procedures within a specialty, not just a few."

For each of the 16 specialties, a randomized sample of 200 board-certified specialists was selected from the American Medical Association's Masterfile of more than 850,000 U.S. doctors, and those physicians were mailed a survey. They were asked to list the five hospitals they think are best in their specialty for difficult cases without taking location or expense into account (or naming their own hospital). Nearly half of the 3,200 physicians completed the survey.

In addition, the hospital's mortality index was evaluated, comparing the number of deaths of Medicare inpatients with certain conditions to the predicted number for 2003, 2004 and 2005 (taking into account severity of condition). Deaths that were counted occurred within 30 days of date of admission.

Other care-related factors that were taken into consideration were quality indicators such as patient volume, relative balance of nurses to patients, advanced technology and credentialing by professional bodies.

"This honor reflects our commitment to bringing excellent care and the latest innovations to our community," says Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health. "The Center for Endoscopy is an example where we have brought together advanced technology, highly skilled physicians and nurses, and comfortable amenities to provide our patients with the best possible experience."

Kyle Etzkorn, MD, chief of gastroenterology at Baptist Medical Center, says, "It has been our goal to be at the leading edge of digestive disorder diagnosis and treatment, and we are fortunate to have attracted some the region's best specialists. Over the past decade, our referral base for complicated cases has grown significantly in scope, and we now see patients from around the country for double balloon enteroscopy procedures. We are very proud to receive this national recognition of the high quality of our digestive program."