The Leapfrog Group on Monday released its 2021 Top Hospitals list, recognizing 149 hospitals for excellence in hospital quality, patient safety, and efficiency.

Cheat sheets: See how Leapfrog calculates its ratings

Methodology

For the list, Leapfrog sorted hospitals into five categories and compared hospitals to their peers. The five categories in Leapfrog’s list were:

• Children's hospitals
• General hospitals
• Large teaching hospitals (500 or more staffed beds)
• Small teaching hospitals (fewer than 500 staffed beds)
• Rural hospitals

To be eligible for recognition on the list, a hospital must:

• Meet Leapfrog's standard for computerized physician order entry
• Meet Leapfrog's standard for ICU physician staffing
• Comply with Leapfrog's "never events" policy
• Receive an "A" on Leapfrog's most recent Safety Grade rating
• Report on all applicable measures (28 measures for children's hospitals, 39 for all other categories) and achieve Leapfrog’s standards on at least 40% to 60% of those measures, depending on category
• Satisfy the Top Hospital Selection Committee's qualitative review

These are the most common overarching eligibility requirements among the five categories. Leapfrog notes that the criteria for selection as a Top Hospital varies across the five categories but is "substantially similar" among them. For detailed differences in methodology between each hospital category, review our curated cheat sheet here.

The Top Hospitals of 2021

Leapfrog recognized 115 Advisory Board members on this year's list. Those hospitals are listed below in alphabetical order by category and state. The entire list is available on Leapfrog's website.

Children's hospitals

California

• Children's Hospital of Orange County
• Loma Linda University Children's Hospital

Florida

• AdventHealth for Children
• Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital
• Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital
• Nemours Children's Hospital, Orlando
• Wolfson Children's Hospital

Tennessee

• Children's Hospital at Erlanger

General hospitals

Colorado

• Centura Health Castle Rock Adventist Hospital

Florida

• AdventHealth Altamonte Springs
• AdventHealth Carrollwood
• AdventHealth Dade City
• AdventHealth Daytona Beach
• AdventHealth DeLand
• AdventHealth Zephyrhills
• Baptist Medical Center Nassau
• Jupiter Medical Center
• Lakewood Ranch Medical Center
• Lehigh Regional Medical Center
• Orlando Health South Lake Hospital

Georgia

• AdventHealth Murray

Illinois

• Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital
• Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital

Massachusetts

• Cooley Dickinson Hospital
• Emerson Hospital
• Saint Anne's Hospital
• Steward Good Samaritan Medical Center, Inc.

Missouri

• Mercy Hospital Jefferson
• Mercy Hospital Joplin

New York

• White Plains Hospital

North Carolina

• AdventHealth Hendersonville
• Wake Forest Baptist Health – Davie Medical Center
• WakeMed Cary Hospital

Pennsylvania

• Geisinger St. Luke's Hospital
• Paoli Hospital

South Carolina

• Roper St. Francis Hospital – Berkeley

Virginia

• Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital
• Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital
• Inova Fair Oaks Hospital
• Inova Loudoun Hospital

Rural hospitals

Colorado

• Centura Health – Mercy Regional Medical Center

Florida

• AdventHealth Wauchula

Georgia

• Fairview Park Hospital

Louisiana

• Ochsner St. Anne General Hospital

Maine

• LincolnHealth
• Northern Light Blue Hill Hospital
• Pen Bay Medical Center

Michigan

• MidMichigan Medical Center – Gladwin
• ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital
• Spectrum Health Kelsey Hospital
• Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital

Nebraska

• Great Plains Health

North Carolina

• Wake Forest Baptist Health Wilkes Medical Center

Ohio

• Adena Regional Medical Center
• Fisher-Titus Medical Center

Oklahoma

• Hillcrest Hospital Cushing
• Mercy Hospital Ada

Tennessee

• LeConte Medical Center

Teaching hospitals

California

• Adventist Health Reedley
• Sharp Coronado Hospital and Healthcare Center
• Stanford Health Care
• UC San Diego Health Hillcrest – Hillcrest Medical Center
• UC San Diego Health La Jolla – Jacobs Medical Center and Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center
• USC Norris Cancer Hospital

Colorado

• Centura Health-Avista Adventist Hospital
• Centura Health-St. Francis Medical Center
• Swedish Medical Center

Connecticut

• Hartford Hospital

Florida

• AdventHealth Orlando
• AdventHealth Tampa
• AdventHealth Wesley Chapel
• AdventHealth Winter Park
• Orange Park Medical Center
• Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital
• Orlando Health-Orlando Regional Medical Center
• Orlando Health South Seminole Hospital
• Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies

Illinois

• AMITA Health Resurrection Medical Center Chicago
• University of Chicago Medical Center

Indiana

• The Women's Hospital

Louisiana

• Ochsner Lafayette General Surgical Hospital
• Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport – St. Mary Medical Center

Massachusetts

• Berkshire Medical Center
• Brigham and Women's Hospital
• Marlborough Hospital

Michigan

• Mercy Health Saint Mary's
• St. Joseph Mercy – Chelsea
• St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor

Missouri

• Mercy Hospital South
• Mercy Hospital St. Louis

Nevada

• Henderson Hospital

New Jersey

• Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill
• Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital
• Jefferson Stratford Hospital
• Monmouth Medical Center
• Morristown Medical Center
• St. Luke's Warren Campus

New Mexico

• Heart Hospital of New Mexico

North Carolina

• Rex Hospital, Inc.

Ohio

• Mount Carmel New Albany Surgical Hospital

Pennsylvania

• Jefferson Bucks
• Lancaster General Hospital
• St. Luke's Easton Hospital
• St. Luke's Hospital – Allentown Campus
• St. Luke's University Hospital – Bethlehem Campus
• WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital

South Carolina

• Prisma Health Baptist Parkridge

Tennessee

• Vanderbilt University Hospital

Texas

• Medical City Denton
• UT Health North Campus Tyler

Utah

• St. Mark's Hospital

Virginia

• Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center
• Carilion New River Valley Medical Center
• Virginia Hospital Center—Arlington Health System

Washington

• Virginia Mason Medical Center

(Leapfrog release, 12/7; Leapfrog Top Hospitals methodology, 12/7; Leapfrog list, 12/7)