Going by criteria set and applied by Money magazine, only two of America’s 6,000 or so hospitals deserve the title “best of the best.”
Adventhealth Orlando in Florida (No. 1) and New York University Langone Medical Center (No. 2)—and no others—earned an overall grade of A-plus from the publisher.
Twenty-two hospitals came close, scoring an even A:
3. Mayo Clinic Hospital Rochester (Rochester, Minn.)
4. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles)
5. Christiana Hospital (Newark, Del.)
6. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston)
7. Sarasota Memorial Hospital (Sarasota, Fla.)
8. Lehigh Valley Hospital (Allentown, Pa.)
9. Cleveland Clinic
10. Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston)
11. North Shore University Hospital (Manhasset, N.Y.)
12. Morristown Medical Center (Morristown, N.J.)
13. Houston Methodist Hospital
14. South Shore Hospital (South Weymouth, Mass.)
15. Northshore University Healthsystem-Evanston Hospital (Evanston, Ill.)
16. Inova Fairfax Hospital (Falls Church, Va.)
17. Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City)
18. Methodist Hospitals of Memphis
19. SUNY/Stony Brook University Hospital (Stony Brook, N.Y.)
20. Riverside Methodist Hospital (Columbus, Ohio)
21. Baptist Health Medical Center-Jacksonville (Jacksonville, Fla.)
22. St. Francis Hospital-The Heart Center (Roslyn, N.Y.)
23. Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville)
24. Memorial Mission Hospital and Asheville Surgery Center (Asheville, N.C.)
Another 28 received an A-minus, and many others landed in the B-plus or B range, bringing Money’s total count of “best hospitals” to 115.
For the best overall category, Money analyzed more than 13,500 data points, working with healthcare transparency company Denniston Data to collect, analyze and rank the results.
Money used grade B as a cutoff because its starting point was CMS’s star ratings system, which whittled the comprehensive list to only institutions with four or five stars—around 1,300 hospitals.
CMS’s system uses five weighted factors—mortality rates, safety records, readmission stats, patient experience scores, and timeliness and effectiveness of care.
Money also graded hospitals on transparency. In this subcategory, five institutions earned an A+:
- Frederick (Md.) Health Hospital
- The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore)
- Johns Hopkins Howard County General Hospital (Columbia, Md.)
- Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center (Annapolis, Md.)
- University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center (Towson)
See the full lists and more on Money’s methodology here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.