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Sen. Mark Pryor

Mr. President, it is my distinct privilege to recognize the work of five Arkansas hospitals that were honored by U.S. News and World Report as among the Nation's best hospitals and classified as ``high-performing'' in a variety of specialties for their outstanding care. These hospitals were judged against almost 5,000 nationwide hospitals and met rigorous standards of medical care, including patient survival and safety, hospital reputation, and care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The ``high-performing'' designation is reserved for hospitals that rank in the top 25 percent of each category after further standards are applied. These five hospitals are tremendous assets to my State, and I am pleased to be able to praise their hard work and world-class medical care on the Senate floor.

The U.S. News 2011-2012 Best Hospitals rankings recognized three hospitals in the Little Rock metropolitan area, which includes Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Conway. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UAMS, was recognized as a high-performing hospital in four specialty areas: cancer; obstetrics/gynecology; ear/nose/throat, ENT; and nephrology, kidney. Baptist Health Medical Center was named high-performing in the ENT and nephrology specialties, and St. Vincent Infirmary was recognized as high-performing in the ENT and orthopedics specialties.

The 2011-2012 Best Hospitals list included two additional Arkansas facilities providing outstanding care outside of major metro areas: Sparks Regional Medical Center, in Fort Smith, and Washington Regional Medical Center, in Fayetteville. They were two of only 247 hospitals across the Nation recognized for their exceptional care as regional hospitals. Sparks was listed as ``high-performing'' in the pulmonology specialty and Washington Regional in geriatrics.

I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the achievements of UAMS, Baptist Health, St. Vincent, Sparks Regional, and Washington Regional. I am thankful for the men and women of these five facilities and all the health care professionals across my State. They are constantly striving to provide Arkansans with the best medical care possible, and I am proud of all their hard work.