PRESS RELEASE: Lown Institute names top hospitals in the United States

By Aaron Toleos | June 25, 2024

“Honor Roll” showcases 154 hospitals with highest scores across measures of equity, value, and outcomes

For-profit hospitals perform worse than nonprofits

BOSTON, MA – The Lown Institute, an independent think tank, released its annual list of the top hospitals in the United States. Out of 2,784 acute care hospitals nationwide, 154 are recognized as “Honor Roll” hospitals for achieving the highest scores on measures of equity, value, and outcomes.

The 10 top acute care hospitals in the United States are:

Duke Regional Hospital (Durham, N.C.)
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Pflugerville (Pflugerville, Texas)
UCHealth Greeley Hospital (Greeley, Colo.)
Adventist Health Ukiah Valley (Ukiah, Calif.)
UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center (Rio Rancho, N.M.)
Suburban Community Hospital (Norristown, Pa.)
Cedar City Hospital (Cedar City, Utah)
Methodist Medical Center (Oak Ridge, Tenn.)
St. Luke’s Hospital – Upper Bucks Campus (Quakertown, Pa.)
Sonoma Valley Health Care District (Sonoma, Calif.)

“Great care is only great if everyone can access it,” said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute. “Socially responsible hospitals are trusted to provide high-quality care to all, and their success directly improves the health and economic stability of their communities.”

The Lown Institute Hospitals Index is unique in its inclusion of equity metrics, such as racial inclusivity and pay equity, alongside more traditional outcomes measures.

“Our rankings show there is considerable room for improvement in social responsibility, even among well-known and typically high-performing hospitals,” said Dr. Saini.

However, some prominent academic medical centers did achieve honor roll status, such as Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, and MetroHealth in Cleveland.

How did for-profit hospitals do (including private equity)?

Overall, for-profit hospitals had weaker performance compared to nonprofit hospitals, including overrepresentation at the bottom of the ranking. For example, for-profit hospitals make up 18% of acute care hospitals but 36% of “D” grades, twice as many as might be expected. Six of the for-profit “D” grades are hospitals owned by private equity.

Methodology

The Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility includes more than 2,700 acute care hospitals nationwide. A separate ranking for 806 critical access hospitals is also available. The Index evaluates hospitals on more than 50 metrics across equity, value, and outcomes. Hospitals with “A” grades on each of the three major categories achieve honor roll designation. The Lown Index uses publicly available data from traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage claims, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ hospital cost reports, Internal Revenue Service Form 990, and other sources. New to this year’s release is the separation of critical access hospitals into their own ranking and an increase to the overall weight of equity metrics. A complete methodology is available.

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Launch event: Join the Lown Institute and guest panelists for a zoom event on Tuesday, June 25 at 1PM ET featuring insight and analysis of this year’s results.

About the Lown Institute

The Lown Institute is an independent think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. We envision a healthcare system focused on what’s best for people, like hospitals caring for those most in need, patients living without fear of financial distress, and health professionals finding joy in their roles. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before like racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse, and pay equity.

Contact

Aaron Toleos, Lown Institute, (978) 821-4620, atoleos@lowninstitute.org