Healthgrades this week released its annual list of "America's Best Hospitals," recognizing the country's top hospitals based on their performance across multiple common conditions and procedures.
Congratulations to the Advisory Board members named to the list—see the member list here
96 of the 100 'Best Hospitals' are Advisory Board members
The "Best Hospitals" list separately honors America's 50 Best Hospitals and America's 100 Best Hospitals. According to Healthgrades, the top 50 and top 100 hospitals are in the top 1% and 2% of hospitals in the nation for clinical quality, respectively.
How 'best hospitals' are selected
Healthgrades honors hospitals as America's Best Hospitals based on how consistently they have received Healthgrades' Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence.
According to Healthgrades, the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence is awarded to hospitals that "rated in the top 5% in the nation with the lowest risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates across at least 21 of 32 common conditions and procedures." To assess hospitals' performance, Healthgrades uses information from CMS' Medicare Provider Analysis and Review database, as well as state data for certain conditions.
To qualify for the 50 Best Hospitals list, hospitals must have received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence for at least seven consecutive years. Hospitals on the 100 Best Hospitals list must have received the Distinguished Award for at least five consecutive years.
'Best Hospital' list highlights
Hospitals on the list were unevenly distributed across the country, according to Healthgrades. For example, 22 states and Washington, D.C., didn't have a hospital in the top 100. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio had the highest number of hospitals on the list.
According to a Healthgrades analysis, patients treated in hospitals recognized as one of America's Best Hospitals "have, on average, a 22.3% lower risk of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that did not receive this award." Healthgrades estimated that at least 162,284 lives could have been saved if all U.S. hospitals had performed at the level of the Best Hospitals.
Healthgrades' CMO Brad Bowman said, "Hospitals that have been named an America's 50 and 100 Best Hospital by Healthgrades have achieved and sustained high-quality outcomes for their patients over many years and continued to set themselves apart to consumers." He added, "We commend the recipients of this distinction" (Healthgrades methodology, accessed 2/27; Healthgrades release, 2/27; Healthgrades Best Hospitals list, 2/27).
Just updated: Cheat sheets on how hospital quality ratings programs work
Download our one page sheets for summaries on the methodology and metric categories used in five hospital quality rating programs: