Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH) ranks for the 21st consecutive year as one of the United States’ top hospitals on U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals list.

LVH ranks No. 4 among hospitals in Pennsylvania.

The 2016-17 list names LVH among the nation’s Top 3 percent of leading hospitals in five categories: cardiology and heart surgery, gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, orthopedics, and pulmonology. These specialties also made the 2015-16 Best Hospitals list.

It’s the 12th time cardiology and heart surgery, and geriatrics have been on the list; the 11th for gastroenterology and GI surgery; the eighth for orthopedics, and the seventh for pulmonology.

LVH is the only hospital in the area to make the U.S. News national rankings in at least one specialty area every year since 1996.

In addition to the Best Hospitals national rankings, U.S. News cites hospitals as “high-performing” in regional markets around the country.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg both are recognized among the Best Hospitals in Northeastern Pennsylvania-Lehigh Valley and the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Metro Area.

Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg is listed as a high-performer in urology, and ranks No. 20 in the state out of 238 total hospitals in Pennsylvania.

“This recognition reflects our health network’s relentless focus on improving the quality of care we provide to our community, to keep them healthy and care for them when they are ill or injured,” said Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, LVHN president and chief executive officer. “Our LVHN colleagues are to be commended for their unwavering commitment to their patients.”

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The rankings have been published at: health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2017 guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands in August.