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US News and World Report ranks Maine Medical Center best hospital in state

The list compared more than 4,500 hospitals in the country. Fewer than half received any "high performing" marks for procedures -- Maine Med received 14.

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Medical Center earned the top spot on a list of hospitals in the state compiled by U.S. News and World Report.

This is the tenth consecutive time Maine Med has earned this distinction.

The list compared more than 4,500 hospitals in the country. Fewer than half received any "high performing" marks for common procedures. 

Maine Med received 14 for the following procedures: 

  • Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.
  • Aortic valve surgery.
  • Back surgery (spinal fusion).
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
  • Colon cancer surgery.
  • Heart attack.
  • Heart bypass surgery.
  • Hip replacement.
  • Kidney failure.
  • Knee replacement.
  • Lung cancer surgery.
  • Prostate cancer surgery.
  • Stroke.
  • Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

"We know it's stressful to have an illness," Chair of the Department of Cardiac Services at Maine Medical Center M.D. Marco Diaz said. "It is perhaps for some of these people the most significant moment in their life. It's the most significant moment for their family. Some of them are literally facing death."

That was the case for Rich Laver. He and his wife, Danette, moved to Portland's West End in July 2020, less than a mile from Maine Med. In May of 2021, Laver woke up in the middle of the night with pain in his chest.

"I woke up at 2:15 in the morning. It was like an alarm clock going off in my chest," Laver said. "I knew something wasn't right."

He and his wife called 911. When he jumped into the back of the ambulance, the EMTs asked him which hospital he wanted to go to. Being new to the area, he asked what they recommended. One EMT said Maine Med.

Meanwhile, friends and family were calling his wife, asking when he would head to Boston or fly back down to his hometown of Philadelphia for care.

 "Open heart surgery? I didn't want to wait two days, three days. Then it gets in my head," Laver said. "Also, do I have enough time?"

Laver underwent a quadruple bypass surgery. 

"The last person I spoke to was my anesthesiologist at 6:30 in the morning when they wheeled me in, and she could have been the last person I spoke to. But she wasn't," Laver said. 

Days later, he was back home in the West End.

"To be able to do that every day is a remarkably rewarding experience," Dr. Diaz said.

One area that U.S. News and World Report list does not account for is trust.

"You can't define how important that is and to know that you're going to be fine and waking up the next day, it means everything," Laver said. "It meant everything to me."

Diaz and Jeff Sanders, the hospital's president, said the ranking also allows them to recruit some of the best health care providers in the country and attract more money for research projects.

The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota earned the number one ranking nationwide. Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston ranked number eight.

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