Comagine Health

/
Comagine Health

What it is: Comagine Health, formerly Qualis Health and HealthInsight, is a national, nonprofit, health care consulting firm whose mission is to  work collaboratively with industry stakeholders to improve the health care system. Comagine’s on-line ranking is regularly updated and contains information for over 4,500 hospitals nationwide.

Why it Matters to You: Comagine offers a searchable hospital ranking database that allows the user to search by name and state. The database also allows for filtering for categories such as overall ranking; patient experience; healthcare-associated infections; and readmissions. 

Created By: Comagine Health

Read More

IBM Watson Health

/
IBM Watson Health

What it is: IBM Watson Health produces annual studies to identify top performing hospitals, cardiovascular hospitals, and health systems. The report was formerly known as the Truven Health Analytics study.

Why it Matters to You: The annual list breaks out top hospitals by size including Small Community Hospitals. The list considers clinical, operation, and financial metrics.

Considerations:  The 100 Top program uses public data sources and transparent methodologies to calculate hospital and health system performance on clinical, operational and patient perception of care metrics. 

Created By:  IBM Watson Health

Read More

Becker's Hospital Review

/
Becker's Hospital Review

What it is: Becker’s Hospital Review is an extensive and well-established publication that extends to a broad scope of coverage, including healthcare news and analysis, commentary and strategy from industry leaders, best practices and business guidance, and lists of noteworthy healthcare institutions and people. 

Why it Matters to You: Becker’s website is a great resource for health care trends and current leaders, although it may be initially overwhelming. A great first-place to stop is their lists section which has a wealth of superlative categories.

Considerations: Becker's Healthcare selected the following hospitals for inclusion based on analysis of ranking and award agencies, including U.S. News & World Report's rankings, CareChex, Healthgrades, CMS star ratings, Leapfrog grades and IBM Watson Health top hospitals. Becker's also sought nominations for this list.

Created By: Becker’s Hospital Review

Read More

Cybermetrics Lab

/
Cybermetrics Lab

What it is: Cybermetrics Lab is an effort of the Centro de Información y Documentación, part of the National Research Council, the largest public research body in Spain. Cybermetrics Lab produces world rankings of the top hospitals of broad geographic regions, including North America.

Why it Matters to You: This ranking uses Internet publication activity as a proxy for peer review and reputation, e.g. the greater the Internet activity, the greater prestige. Cybermetric displays ranks of specific hospitals within their region and also their world ranking.

Considerations: This ranking measures scientific activity of the Internet including both formal publications and informal scholarly communication. “Activity” is a pure measure of volume and does not differentiate between good and infamous. Cybermetrics is perhaps better used as only a reference point for a medical institution’s reputation.

Created By: Cybermetrics Lab

Read More

Medicare

/
Medicare

What it is: The national health insurance program, Medicare, maintains a searchable database of hospital performance.

Why it Matters to You:  The database allows the user to compare hospitals based on their overall star rating - a summary of a variety of quality measures reflecting common conditions that hospitals treat, such as heart attacks or pneumonia. The database also allows for finding and comparing doctors, nursing homes, and more.

Considerations: The database is populated by information that hospitals report to the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that runs the Medicare program. Some of the data is based only from Medicare patients and some is based on all patients. Some hospitals, due to the number and type of patients they treat, are excluded from the database, although that should not be taken as a reflection of their performance. 

Created By: Mediacare

Read More

Medscape

/
Medscape

What it is: A survey of over 11,000 American physicians asked pointedly what hospital they would choose for treatment for themselves or a family member.

Why it Matters to You: In addition to ranking hospitals, this survey identifies that factors that contributed to physician responses, e.g., medical expertise, reputation among colleagues, and available technology.

Considerations: The Medscape survey captures no more than the top 10 hospitals in the nation in each category, so provides only limited information on the few leading hospitals and does not provide region-specific insight.

Created By: Medscape

Read More

Castle Connolly

/
Castle Connolly

What it is: Castle Connolly ‘s ranking identifies hospitals that employ its “Top Doctors.”

Why it Matters to You: The Top Doctor honor is based on an extensive survey of thousands of American doctors each year, taking into consideration medical educations, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories.

Considerations: This is a consumer-facing ranking with the goal of assisting patients make informed decisions about their health.

Created By: Castle Connolly Medical Ltd.

Read More

Leapfrog Group

/
Leapfrog Group

What it is: An annual survey and award of highest performing hospitals based on patient care as defined by better systems in place to prevent medication errors, higher quality on maternity care and lower infection rates, among other laudable qualities.

Why it Matters to You: Leapgroup is an industry benchmarking services firm that provides hospitals a comparison of their patient care systems.

Considerations: The award is not given to a set number of hospitals, but rather, to all teaching, general, rural and children’s hospitals that are in the top 10% of participating hospitals based on criteria such as medication safety, inpatient care management, and infections.

Created By: The Leapfrog Group

Read More

Healthgrades

/
Healthgrades

What It Is: Healthgrades ranks the top 250 hospitals in the country categorizing them into 3 different tiers - top 250, top 100 and top 50.

Why It Matters To You: The ranking system is categorized by state and offers a rough comparison to other hospitals, identifying the top 1% and top 2% tiers.

Considerations: This ranking system is based solely on “clinical quality outcomes” over several years and provides a measure of consumer confidence. As such it is largely patient-outcome focused rather than evaluating the hospital as a workplace or employer.

Created By: Healthgrades

Read More

U.S. News & World Report

/
U.S. News & World Report

What It Is: An annual ranking of hospitals in the country. The ranking is limited - it does not score every hospital in the United States, just the top performers.

Why It Matters To You: The most widely referenced ranking, U.S. News & World Report offers ranks including overall, regional, specialty ranking, children’s hospitals, and surgical procedures.

Considerations: The ranking is consumer-focused so weighs heavily towards patient care (as opposed to employee satisfaction, financial strength, etc.). Scores are based on several factors including survival, patient safety, and nurse staffing. A formal methodology report can be downloaded.

Created By: U.S. News & World Report

Read More