The number of organ transplants performed in the U.S. hit a record high in 2016, with 33,606 transplants performed, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. But not all transplant centers were created equal — some have much better patient outcomes than others.
Using data collected from other organizations, the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients assesses outcomes of centers that perform liver, heart, lung, kidney and kidney-pancreas transplants. According to SRTR, it uses a risk-adjusted assessment to evaluate how often patients are alive with a functioning transplanted organ one year after the transplant and then assigns a score of one (the worst) to five (the best).
Listed below are the hospitals that received a score of five from SRTR for four major transplant types — liver, heart, lung and kidney. No hospitals received a five in the kidney-pancreas transplant category.
Hospitals are listed in the order from SRTR.
Liver
University of California San Francisco Medical Center
Emory University Hospital (Atlanta)
Duke University Hospital (Durham, N.C.)
California Pacific Medical Center (San Francisco)
University of Utah Medical Center (Salt Lake City)
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)
Portland (Ore.) Veterans Administration Medical Center
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics/Iowa City VA Medical Center
The Queen's Medical Center (Honolulu)
Broward General Medical Center (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
Heart
University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle)
Mayo Clinic Hospital (Phoenix)
Tufts Medical Center (Boston)
Ohio State University Medical Center (Columbus)
Spectrum Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Keck Hospital of USC (Los Angeles)
Advocate Christ Medical Center (Oak Lawn, Ill.)
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center (Winston Salem, N.C.)
Lung
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center (Phoenix)
Barnes-Jewish Hospital (St. Louis)
University of California San Francisco Medical Center
Stanford (Calif.) Health Care
CHI St. Luke's Health Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center (Houston)
Kidney
University of California San Francisco Medical Center
Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.)
Tampa (Fla.) General Hospital
University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview (Minneapolis)
Keck Hospital of USC (Los Angeles)
CHI St. Luke's Health Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center (Houston)
University of Washington Medical Center (Seattle)
University of Utah Medical Center (Salt Lake City)
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)
Yale New Haven (Conn.) Hospital
Oregon Health and Science University/Portland VA Medical Center
Cleveland Clinic Florida Weston
Plaza Medical Center of Fort Worth (Texas)
Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle)
UF Health Shands Hospital (Gainesville, Fla.)
Sentara Norfolk (Va.) General Hospital
Vidant Medical Center (Greenville, N.C.)
University of Chicago Medical Center
Methodist Dallas Medical Center
St. Vincent Hospital and Health Care Center (Indianapolis)
Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center (Denver)
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (New Brunswick, N.J.)
Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center Hospital
Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital (Spokane, Wash.)
St. John Medical Center (Tulsa)
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center (Camden, N.J.)
Portland (Ore.) Veterans Administration Medical Center
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda (Md.)
Harbor UCLA Medical Center (Torrance, Calif.)
Saint Joseph Hospital (Orange, Calif.)
Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed University of San Francisco Medical Center under the "Kidney" category. University of California San Francisco Medical Center has replaced it. We regret the error.