Healthgrades on Tuesday released its 2026 Specialty Excellence Awards, recognizing around 4,500 hospitals with "outstanding clinical performance" in 31 common procedures across 16 specialty care areas.
Details on the awards
For the 2026 Specialty Excellence Awards, Healthgrades evaluated U.S. hospitals' performances and assessed the clinical outcomes of 31 procedures and conditions across 16 specialty care areas, including:
- Cardiac care
- Cardiac surgery
- Coronary intervention
- Cranial neurosurgery
- Critical care
- Gastrointestinal care
- Gastrointestinal surgery
- Joint replacement
- Neurosciences
- Orthopedic surgery
- Prostate surgery
- Pulmonary care
- Spine surgery
- Stroke care
- Surgical care
- Vascular surgery
Hospitals were then awarded between one and five stars to signify their performance. To measure performance, Healthgrades used Medicare inpatient data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review file provided by CMS for years 2022 through 2024.
According to Healthgrades, hospitals that received:
- One star performed "worse than expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was worse than predicted and the difference was statistically significant."
- Three stars performed "as expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was not statistically significantly different from what was predicted."
- Five stars performed "better than expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was better than predicted and the difference was statistically significant."
To access the list of Specialty Excellence Award recipients and see if your hospital was among them, click here.
Advisory Board's QUALITY-RELATED resources
- Cheat sheet: What are stakeholders' top priorities for specialty care?
- Critical careCheat sheet: Defining and measuring quality by healthcare sector
Hospitals' top strategic priorities — and what they mean for development leaders
- Cheat sheets: Learn how top hospital quality ratings programs work
- Quality self-assessment: Benchmark your organization's performance
- The hospital benchmark generator
Healthgrades also ranked the top three or five eligible hospitals across 18 specialties — including the same 16 specialties as the Specialty Excellence Awards as well as cardiology and gastrointestinal medical — to help "consumers find local hospitals that excel in their condition or procedure, taking the guesswork out of finding high quality care close to home."
Key insights
According to Healthgrades, the disparity between top performers and one-star hospitals has continued to grow over the years.
Healthgrades found that, between 2022 and 2024, if all hospitals had performed at the level of five-star recipients, 230,466 lives could have been saved, and 183,475 complications could have been avoided.
"Our specialty awards identify the nation's top-performing hospitals across numerous medical specialties, helping consumers find high quality care tailored to their specific needs," said Alana Biggers, medical advisor at Healthgrades. "Navigating the complex healthcare system can feel daunting, but taking a proactive stance to understand where to access superior care can enhance your healthcare journey and overall experience. The ability to make informed decisions about your health is a
cornerstone of self-advocacy, and we are proud to help make that information accessible to all patients."
(Healthgrades press release, 10/28; Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards, accessed 10/22; Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards methodology, accessed 10/22; Healthgrades State Rankings Awards, accessed 10/22)
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