Rush University Medical Center ranked fourth among 107 leading academic medical centers in the United States, up from fifth last year, in a national study conducted by the health care services company Vizient. It is the fifth consecutive time Rush has been ranked among the top five in the annual Quality and Accountability Study and the ninth time since the University HealthSystem Consortium, now part of Vizient, began the study in 2005. Rush is the only academic medical center in Illinois among those participating in the study to receive the award, which recognizes Rush for demonstrating superior performance as measured by the study. The Birnbaum award winners were announced Sept. 14 at the Vizient Clinical Connections Summit in Denver. “We are proud that Rush has been ranked among the top in this study for the fifth consecutive year,” said Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of the Rush system and of Rush University Medical Center. “In the midst of dramatic changes in how hospitals deliver care over the past five years, one thing that hasn’t changed is that Rush consistently provides exemplary care for our patients, as the results of this study have shown repeatedly.” The study, which also included 161 community hospitals, evaluated the participating medical centers and hospitals on the criteria based on the Institute of Medicine’s six domains of care — safety, timeliness, effectiveness, efficiency, equity and patient centeredness.