( CNN ) -- Looking for the best hospitals in the United States ? U.S. News & World Report has released its annual rankings for 2014 -- with the Mayo Clinic topping the site 's honor roll list for the first time . The yearly analysis specifically looks at the best medical centers for patients with life-threatening or rare conditions . Factors such as patient survival rates , adequate nursing staff , reputation with specialist physicians and patient safety , which has more emphasis this year , are taken into account . `` U.S. News strives to provide patients and their families with the most comprehensive data available on hospitals , '' said Avery Comarow , U.S. News health rankings editor . `` With an estimated 400,000 deaths occurring in hospitals each year from medical errors , measuring safety performance is critical to understanding how well a hospital cares for its patients . '' Why you should try to avoid going to the hospital in July . In addition to an overall ranking , the report also breaks down the best hospitals into 16 specialties , including the best hospitals for cancer and heart surgery . All the rankings can be viewed on usnews.com . Highlights include : . Best overall hospitals . 1 . Mayo Clinic , Rochester , Minnesota . 2 . Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston . 3 . Johns Hopkins Hospital , Baltimore . 4 . Cleveland Clinic . 5 . UCLA Medical Center , Los Angeles . Best cancer hospitals . 1 . Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center , New York . 2 . University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center , Houston . 3 . Mayo Clinic , Rochester , Minnesota . 4 . Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women 's Cancer Center , Boston . 5 . Johns Hopkins Hospital , Baltimore . Best cardiology and heart surgery hospitals . 1 . Cleveland Clinic . 2 . Mayo Clinic , Rochester , Minnesota . 3 . New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell , New York . 4 . Duke University Hospital , Durham , North Carolina . 5 . Brigham and Women 's Hospital , Boston . For less life-threatening conditions , U.S. News and World Report recommends that patients use the best regional hospitals list .
Mayo Clinic ranks as best overall hospital for the first time . For cancer , Memorial Sloan comes out on top . Mayo Clinic in New York- ranks No . 4 for heart patients .