For 11 consecutive years, UAB Hospital has been ranked the best hospital in Alabama by U.S. News & World Report. The hospital recently expanded to 1,400 licensed beds while maintaining a case mix index among the top four for comparable academic medical centers. UAB Hospital is home to one of the nation’s most active organ transplant centers, performing more than 400 heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, uterus and multi-organ transplants annually, including transplants across blood types and HIV-positive to HIV-positive procedures. Its emergency department was the first in the nation to earn level 1 accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the hospital’s discharge lounge has served more than 35,000 patients while saving more than 16,000 bed hours. UAB reduced hospital-acquired pressure injuries by 53% and pressure ulcers by 75%, and its enhanced lay navigation program cut unnecessary emergency department visits by more than 40% and inpatient utilization by more than 60%. UAB Hospital holds its sixth Magnet designation for nursing excellence and is nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report in rheumatology, ear, nose and throat, obstetrics and gynecology, and neurology and neurosurgery. Recent expansions include a new UAB Rehabilitation Pavilion for inpatient rehabilitation, a more-than-66,000-square-foot expansion of the University Emergency Department adding 59 exam rooms, and the extension of structural heart and cardiovascular services to UAB Medical West, where nearly 800 interventional heart cases have been completed. The broader UAB Health System, for which UAB Hospital is the flagship, is also preparing to roll out the Epic EHR systemwide within the next year to unify patient records and streamline care across its locations.
