New York City-based NYU Langone Hospitals recently was named No. 1 for cardiology, heart and vascular surgery in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-26 Best Hospitals rankings.
Health system leaders told Becker’s the recognition reflects decades of investment and recruitment and a culture centered on quality and patient outcomes.
Larry Chinitz, MD, director of NYU Langone’s New York City-based Heart Rhythm Center, called the ranking “a long time coming.”
“It required an enormous effort that included contributions from our patients and philanthropic involvement from our senior leadership,” he said.
He added that a unified governance structure between the medical school and hospital helped eliminate barriers to growth. Over the past 20 years, NYU Langone expanded its heart program with advanced capabilities, new facilities and top physician recruits.
Recent investments include a $22 million project to build an eight-bed coronary care unit at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn and a $650 million transformation of NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk, which will add a 144-bed patient tower and advanced cardiac services.
Dr. Chinitz led the first U.S. implant of a leadless pacemaker, a device placed directly in the heart without leads or a surgical pocket. He noted the device is safer, reducing complications by 62%, but said its adoption required overcoming concerns about cost and a steep learning curve — an example of NYU Langone’s willingness to challenge convention and remove barriers to innovation.
“Nothing was impossible. Everything was a potential,” Dr. Chinitz said. “We recruited the best people in the world. … It was 20 years of execution, but I think the results are just phenomenal.”
Glenn Fishman, MD, William Goldring Professor of Medicine and director of the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology at NYU Langone Health, described the ranking as “a validation of decades of innovation and teamwork and a focus on patient outcomes.”
Dr. Fishman added that NYU Langone’s culture is “patient-centric from top to bottom.”
That mission, Dr. Fishman noted, extends beyond New York City. The system’s Epic EHR connects care teams from New York to Florida, ensuring patients receive consistent, coordinated care regardless of location.
“The data has really been empowering in terms of implementing best practices and quality initiatives that drive all of our patient outcomes,” Dr. Fishman said, referencing the EHR’s real-time dashboards.
Both leaders also emphasized the supportive environment for physicians.
“We nurture our residents, our fellows, our junior faculty,” Dr. Chinitz said. “We create an environment where they can have the potential to succeed. … You would think that everybody has that, but I assure you, they do not.”
Collaboration is another defining feature.
“We have seamless patient-centered collaboration across cardiology and all of our subspecialty programs. … it creates a real energy and spirit that uplifts me.”
Looking ahead, he added NYU Langone will continue to innovate so its advances spill over to other institutions.
“We have the privilege of taking care of patients, and we recognize it’s a privilege,” Dr. Fishman said. “We just hope that this ranking allows us to amplify that and bring what we’re doing to more and more people.”
