The Medical Center of Central Georgia is nationally ranked in a guide to the country’s best hospitals.

The hospital is ranked No. 44 in the country by U.S. News & World Report in the cardiology and heart surgery category. It is listed as high-performing in the following nine adult specialties: diabetes and endocrinology, geriatrics, nephrology, orthopedics, urology, gastroenterology, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, and pulmonology.

The U.S. News guide, its 23rd annual edition, showcases more than 720 of the nation’s roughly 5,000 hospitals. Fewer than 150 are nationally ranked in at least one of 16 medical specialties.

The Medical Center was among 148 facilities, roughly 3 percent of the 4,793 analyzed for the latest ratings, to be ranked in at least one of the 16 specialties. The hospital was second highest ranking hospital in Georgia, behind only Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

The complete rankings and methodology are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.