We are pleased to announce that for the 12th straight year, National Research Corporation has given The Johns Hopkins Hospital its Consumer Choice Award for the Baltimore region.

The award is based on ratings from Maryland health care consumers, who named Johns Hopkins the top quality hospital in the Baltimore area. Nationwide this year, NRC surveyed those among almost 200,000 households who make their family health-care decisions, representing consumer markets in the contiguous 48 states and the District ofColumbia.

In all, 225 hospitals were cited in the survey as regional consumer choice winners, including Washington County Hospital and Winchester Medical Center, both in the Hagerstown, Md., area, and Inova Fairfax Hospital in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.

In addition, the Hospital has also received the American Alliance of Healthcare Providers’ American Hospital of Choice Award. The award is given for excellence in four areas of a patient’s experience with a hospital: security, comfort, convenience and caring.

Johns Hopkins is the only hospital in Maryland to win this year’s award and we have been selected for the award each year since its inception in 2002. We appreciate this vote of confidence by those who have visited us, andit is gratifying to see our commitment to quality care recognized in these ways. We also know that these awards would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of our staff, and we thank each of you forcontinued contributions in meeting and exceeding the expectations of ourpatients.