For the sixth year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Emory University Hospital the No. 1 hospital in Georgia and in metro Atlanta in its 2017-18 Best Hospitals Guide. Emory University Hospital includes Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital and Emory University Hospital at Wesley Woods.

Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital ranked No. 2  in Georgia and  in metro Atlanta, while Emory University Hospital Midtown ranked No. 11 in Georgia (a two-way tie) and No. 6 in metro Atlanta.

Emory University Hospital ranked either nationally or was considered high performing in the following specialties: Cancer, Cardiology & Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology & GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics and Urology.

Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital ranked high performing in Gastroenterology & GI Surgery.

"These hospital rankings validate the commitment of care our physicians and staff provide to our patients across many different specialties at Emory," says Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, president, CEO and chairman of the board of Emory Healthcare. "We appreciate our care teams and applaud them for their successes in these annual rankings."

U.S. News & World Report began publishing hospital rankings in 1990 to identify the best medical centers in various specialties for the most difficult patients --- those whose illnesses pose unusual challenges because of underlying conditions, procedure difficulty or other medical issues that add risk. Hospitals are assessed in 16 specialties for the rankings. In 12 of the 16 specialties, ranking is determined by an extensive data-driven analysis that combines measures of performance in three primary dimensions of healthcare: structure, process and outcomes. Ranking in the other four specialties relies on hospital reputation, as determined by physician surveys.

Within a state or metro area, regional rank is determined by a hospital's performance in the national rankings analysis and by its scores across nine procedure and condition areas evaluated. A hospital with more national rankings in the 12 data-driven specialties outranks a hospital with fewer national rankings.

The specialty rankings and data are produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metro rankings.

For more on the rankings, access http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals .