US News “best” hospitals still falling short on equity
US News & World Report just released their new list of “best” hospitals for patient care. US News incorporated several methodology changes this year in response to recent criticism, such as adding outpatient outcomes metrics and reducing the weight of the “expert opinion” section.
But how do these high-performing hospitals for patient care do on metrics of equity and value? Here are the results from the Lown Hospitals Index.
US News hospitals on the Lown Index
| Hospital name | Social Responsibility rank | Equity grade | Outcomes grade | Value grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes Jewish Hospital | 245 | B | A | A |
| Brigham and Women’s Hospital | 1732 | C | B | A |
| Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | 2474 | D | B | A |
| Cleveland Clinic Main Campus | 434 | C | A | A |
| Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania | 378 | C | A | A |
| Houston Methodist Hospital | 2119 | D | A | B |
| Massachusetts General Hospital | 1673 | C | B | A |
| Mayo Clinic Hospital (Rochester) | 364 | C | A | A |
| Michigan Medicine | 451 | C | A | A |
| Mount Sinai Hospital | 221 | B | A | A |
| New York-Presbyterian Hospital | 740 | C | A | A |
| North Shore University Hospital | 574 | C | A | A |
| Northwestern Memorial Hospital | 1336 | D | A | A |
| NYU Langone Hospitals | 565 | C | A | A |
| Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center | 528 | C | A | A |
| Rush University Medical Center | 102 | B | A | A |
| Stanford Hospital | 566 | C | A | A |
| The Johns Hopkins Hospital | 902 | B | B | A |
| UC San Diego Medical Center | 428 | C | A | A |
| UCSF Medical Center | 440 | C | A | A |
| UT Southwestern Medical Center – Dallas | 455 | C | A | A |
| Vanderbilt University Medical Center | 556 | C | A | A |
The 22 US News honor roll hospitals perform well on outcomes and value, with all of them receiving “A” or “B” grades on both of these categories. However, none of these hospitals received an “A” grade on equity, and some of these hospitals have especially low rankings on certain equity metrics. For example, UT Southwestern hospital lands in the bottom 10% of all hospitals for community benefit and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center ranks in the bottom 1% for inclusivity.
There is also substantial variation among these hospitals when it comes to equity. For example, Rush University Medical Center received an “A” grade in inclusivity, while Northwestern Memorial Hospital– another Chicago hospital– received a “D.” Several US News hospitals, such as New York Presbyterian and Stanford Hospital received “A” grades in community benefit and had fair share surpluses in 2020, while other US News hospitals like Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and the Mayo Clinic received “D” grades in community benefit.
These hospitals also differ in their CEO pay. As we wrote in our July 2023 report on social responsibility, some CEOs of US News hospitals were paid over $10 million in 2020. Most made over $1 million, but a few CEOs–including the leaders of Rush University Medical Center and Michigan Medicine– made less than that.
None of the US News hospitals hit the top 100 rank on the Lown Index, but Rush came very close, and several others are in the top 500. To see which hospitals in your state received all “A” grades on the Lown Index, take a look at our website!