Jacksonville’s Mayo Clinic and Gainesville's University FloridaShands are the top-ranked hospitals in Florida, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
Mayo Clinic officials partially credits the city’s status as a medical tourism destination for the win.
U.S. News and World Report based its rankings on criteria including procedure outcomes, types of medicine and patient satisfaction.
Mayo Clinic CEO Gianrico Farrugia said the number one ranking is a testament to the hospital’s philosophy of integrated care.
“We were ranked nationally in eight specialties: in cancer; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery; geriatrics; gynecology; neurology and neurosurgery, orthopedics, pulmonology,” he said.
Farrugia said Jacksonville is already on the map of medical hotspots. But he’d like to see more marketing of the city.
“It’s important for us to be able to attract people from throughout the United States, certainly here in Jacksonville, to make sure we attract people from the southeast part of the United States,” he said.
Jacksonville Republican Senator Aaron Bean sponsored a measure that would’ve mandated an economic study of medical tourism, which required more marketing. But that bill failed last session.
A January Florida Chamber of Commerce estimate found that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Sunshine State receive some type of medical care during their trip. And a George Mason University study concluded that deregulating certain portions of the medical industry has helped Florida poach patients from other states with more rules.
U.S. News and World Report also rated Jacksonville's Baptist Medical Center as number four in the state.
