Methodist Hospitals of Memphis has been recognized, as the best regional hospital in the Memphis metro area by U.S. News & World Report for the seventh consecutive year.

Methodist Hospitals of Memphis, comprised of Methodist University Hospital, Methodist North Hospital, Methodist South Hospital and Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital, ranked fourth in Tennessee.

Le Bonheur Children's Hospital was also was honored by U.S. News & World Report as one of its 2017-2018 Best Children's Hospitals in the nation. Le Bonheur also made the list for the seventh consecutive year.

In addition, Methodist was recognized as high performing in nephrology.

The annual U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, now in their 28th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients.

U.S. News says it publishes Best Hospitals to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face a particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or advanced age.

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metro rankings.