20 Most Beautiful Hospitals announced

On Monday, healthcare staffing provider Soliant Health announced the top 20 winners of its fifth annual Most Beautiful Hospitals in the U.S. awards.

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According to Tera Tuten, operations director for Soliant Health, the winners were selected entirely by voters, which is slightly different than in previous years where a panel of experts also had input on the selected winners.

After more than 100,000 votes collected throughout the spring, LaConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Tenn., came in first place with 16,250 votes, moving up from third place in the 2012 awards.

According to a LaConte press release, the hospital is a three-story, 80-bed facility with a “modern mountain” theme located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hospital also has 4 operating rooms, the county’s first cancer survival center and the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services.

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‘We’re honored to have been named the Most Beautiful Hospital in America! The beauty at LeConte is more than just this beautiful building – it’s seen daily in the excellent care provided to our patients by our employees, staff, and volunteers,” said Ellen Wilhoit, president and chief administrative officer of LeConte Medical Center, in a written statement. “Our building was designed by our healthcare team and community with the patient and family in mind. This created a wonderful environment that promotes healing.”

Tuten said that while some hospitals received more votes than others on the list, “each one was beautiful with unique things about them.”

For the third year in a row, Florida had the most hospitals on the list with three in the top 20. Oregon, Michigan, Utah and Illinois all had two hospitals appear in the top 20. Additionally, Illinois is the leader when it comes to the highest rankings and number of times on the list.

“The number one hospital actually got 10 times more votes than the 20th ranked hospital, but some hospitals on the list were separated by very few votes,” said Tuten. “Everyone gets so excited about this. We love getting the community involved and it’s super cool for us to see them so excited about it.”

The remaining Top 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals of 2013 are as follows:

2.    Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, Elmhurst, Ill.

3.    Cass Regional Medical Center, Harrisonville, Mo. 

4.    Stony Brook Medical Center, Stony Brook, N.Y.
5.    Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, East Norriton, Penn.

6.    Doctors Memorial Hospital, Bonifay, Fla.
7.    West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Miami

8.    Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital, Wheaton, Ill.
9.    McKay-Dee Hospital Center, Ogden, Utah

10.   Eisenhower Medical Center, Rancho Mirage, Calif. 

11.   Norton Sound Regional Hospital, Nome, Alaska

12.   Virtua Voorhees Hospital, Voorhees Township, N.J.

13.   Gulf Coast Medical Center, Fort Myers, Fla.
14.   Riverside Regional Medical Center, Newport News, Va.
15.   Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, Utah 

16.   Mercy Memorial Hospital, Monroe, Mich. 

17.   Metro Health Hospital – Wyoming, Wyoming, Mich. 

18.   Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend, Springfield, Ore. 

19.   CaroMont Health, Gastonia, N.C. 

20.   Wallowa Memorial Hospital, Enterprise, Ore.

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