An Akron hospital has a leg up on others nationwide when it comes to fixing bones and replacing hips and knees.

For the 11th consecutive year, Summa Health System is ranked among the top 50 hospitals nationwide for orthopedic care by U.S. News & Report.

Summa ranked 45th in orthopedics in the listing, which is available online today at http://www.usnews.com/besthospitals.

Dr. Scott Weiner, head of Summa's orthopedic program, credits the surgeons, staff and administrators at the hospital.

''Everybody is subspecialized at Summa,'' Weiner said. ''The person who comes in and needs a joint typically gets that joint replaced by someone who does a lot of them, so the results are better.''

The designation coincides with the hospital's plans to break ground Thursday on a $100 million orthopedic hospital that will be owned and operated jointly with the Crystal Clinic specialty physician practice.

The five-floor facility on the Akron City Hospital campus will house a dozen operating rooms and as many as 96 beds when it opens in fall 2010, Weiner said.

''Most specialty hospitals are being built in suburbia,'' he said. ''We made a commitment to downtown Akron, and we made a commitment to make Akron the hub for orthopedic care.''

Once again, the Cleveland Clinic fared well in the U.S. News' annual hospital ranking.

The Cleveland-based health-care giant was named the fourth-best overall hospital in the nation and the
best hospital for heart care for the 14th consecutive year.

University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland also made this year's list in several categories.

The report, now in its 19th year, ranks hospitals in 16 specialties.

Researchers considered reputation among doctors, death rates from Medicare data and other care-related factors, such as technology, volume and nurse staffing for most categories.

More than 1,500 hospitals were graded as part of the news magazine's annual ranking. To be considered, facilities had to be teaching hospitals or have key technologies and perform a minimum number of procedures in the area being reviewed.

Results for all hospitals surveyed, including those that didn't make the top 50, also are available today on U.S. News' Web site.

Pediatric hospitals were evaluated in a previous report that also is available online.

This year, the Cleveland Clinic ranked among the top 10 hospitals in 10 specialties, including a No. 1 ranking in heart care and No. 2 rankings in gastrointestinal disorders, urology and rheumatology (connective-tissue disorders).

Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore topped this year's list as the country's best overall hospital, followed by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

The hospital rankings and accompanying stories are in the July 23 edition of U.S. News & World Report, which will be available on newsstands Monday.