How Are Hospitals Rated and Ranked?There are many different ways to rate and rank hospitals, and different websites may “crunch the numbers” in a way that emphasizes one aspect of healthcare over another.Here are the areas that are most often included when evaluating hospitals.Patient survey data In these surveys, patients rate their hospital experience based on factors like ease and quality of communication with nurses and doctors, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, facility cleanliness, and overall satisfaction.Clinical outcome measures This includes metrics like mortality rates for specific conditions, complication rates, and patient safety.Timely and effective care Hospitals are evaluated based on how well they follow recommended medical guidelines and provide timely treatments for specific conditions, such as heart attacks and pneumonia.Readmission and complication rates One way to assess the quality of care a hospital provides is by tracking how often patients need to return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge (or in some cases, 90 days) for certain medical treatments or surgeries.Advanced technologies This rating is based on the hospital’s use of cutting-edge technologies and medical procedures. A hospital with state-of-the-art facilities and innovative treatments will have high scores.Top Hospital Ratings and Rankings WebsitesIf you’re looking to find the best hospital near you or further away for a particular purpose, you may want to check out the ratings and reviews on the following sites:Medicare’s Hospital CompareU.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospital RankingsLeapfrog’s Hospital Safety GradeHealthgradesMedicare’s Hospital Compare is a comprehensive tool provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This federal agency uses a star rating system (one to five stars) based on how well a hospital performs in different areas correlated to quality, including the treatment of common conditions such as heart attack and pneumonia, as well as readmission rates and safety.Additionally, a hospital is awarded one to five stars based on a patient survey that rates healthcare team communication, staff responsiveness to patient needs, and cleanliness and quietness.U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals Rankings is a reliable source of information on close to 5,000 hospitals across 15 adult specialties, 10 pediatric specialties, and 21 procedures and conditions.The ranking system leans heavily on patient outcomes, adequate staffing, advanced technologies, expert opinions (what other physicians think about the hospital), and metrics about safety and readmissions.U.S. News & World Report rankings offer especially good information for specialties in complex care, notes Bilimoria. “They also have increased reporting on common procedures and diagnoses,” he says.Note that in July 2023, U.S. News & World Report announced it will be changing the format for its 2023–24 Best Hospitals ratings. Although they will continue to recognize hospitals that perform exceptionally well overall with an “Honor Roll” designation, they will no longer assign each hospital a numerical ranking.They will continue to publish numerical rankings for 15 specialties and will cover each region where they already provide rankings.Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grade places a strong emphasis on patient safety and tracks patient safety scores for hospitals using 22 measures of publicly available data. The overall grade combines measures of process, structure, and outcomes.Process includes things like whether or not the providers follow treatment guidelines and how responsive the staff is, while structural measures rate factors like the hospital’s environment and equipment. Outcome measures represent what happens to a patient while receiving care, including medical accidents and injuries.Healthgrades provides information on hospital quality, patient safety, and patient experience using data from Medicare claims for nearly 4,500 hospitals across the country, available data from all patients (all-payer data), and patient surveys.The company creates predictive models that account for variations in patient populations and their complexity by using risk-adjusted data. Analysts compare their predictive outcome to actual outcomes at a facility, and star ratings are awarded based on whether the facility has outcomes that are statistically higher or lower than expectations.What Are the Best Hospital Ratings and Rankings Sites?When it comes to which rating systems to consult, Bilimoria recommends U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospital Rankings and Medicare’s Hospital Compare. “Both of these allow you to drill a little deeper into specific areas of care as well as specific things that may be important to you,” he says. Most hospital ratings aim to measure the entire hospital’s quality, he adds.Generally speaking, even if a hospital rates high overall, you still should try to find information about the specific area where you need care — say, cardiology if you’re having heart surgery, or orthopedics if you’re having knee surgery.“By doing more research, you can get information on who’s providing high-end care, who is involved in cutting-edge clinical trials research, and what institutions have nationally renowned experts,” Bilimoria says.Check State Reporting for Rankings of Smaller, Rural HospitalsYou may not be able to find smaller, rural health systems in the national rankings websites, according to Mayo Clinic. But depending on where you live, you may be able to find data on programs in your state — such as those in Minnesota and Wisconsin — that provide primary care and chronic disease management.Volume Is Often an Indicator of QualityAnother metric that’s commonly a good indication of hospital quality is volume. “That means how much of whatever type of care a doctor or hospital is performing. Typically, more volume — doing x thing more often — means that they do it better. It can be an excellent surrogate for quality,” Bilimoria says.For instance, a hospital that does thousands of a certain type of complex heart surgery every year likely has better results than a hospital that does very few of these surgeries.The volume-outcome relationship, meaning high hospital volume results in better health outcomes, has been established for different surgical procedures and certain nonmedical surgical interventions, according to a review published in Systematic Reviews in January 2023.“A lot of these rating systems report the volume of procedures done by surgeons and by institutions, so you can use that information to identify top providers,” says Bilimoria.What Is the Most Important Thing to Consider When Looking at Hospital Ratings and Rankings?When it comes to which measurements are most important, Bilimoria recommends not leaning too hard on any individual metric.That’s because even though many of the stats are useful, they aren’t perfect and sometimes they may even be misleading. “Say that in your research you see that a particular institution has a high infection rate, and that gives you pause about going there. But there can be more to the story,” says Bilimoria.It may be that an infection rate is high because the hospital is very meticulous in identifying all cases, while a hospital that looks to have a near-perfect record may not be catching a lot of cases, he says.“Another example is blood clots after surgery, which is a commonly reported measure, and clearly, this is something that you don’t want to have happen to you. But in many cases, the places that were being identified as poor performers were actually the ones that were being very vigilant and looking for the blood clots very thoroughly,” says Bilimoria.Sometimes it can be an issue of “the more you look the more you find,” and some hospitals are being unfairly penalized in ratings systems for being vigorous about spotting issues and working on process improvement, he says.“That’s why I suggest that you don’t let one measure drive your decision. You should kind of look at the overall picture and use outside information beyond the metrics,” he says.Your Primary Care Doctor Can Help You Find the Best HospitalYour primary care doctor can recommend a hospital on the basis of your medical history and individual situation. If you’re not sure how to go about asking for a referral, Bilimoria advises being direct.“Specifically ask about who they recommend in the area for the specific type of care you will be seeking. If it’s for surgical care, the primary care physicians will know who typically has good results and where their patients have had good satisfaction with their care. That’s usually a good way to get started,” he says.He also suggests asking your primary doctor for multiple recommendations, whether it’s for hospitals or hospital-based specialists. “You may find that you have a good rapport with one [specialist], but not with another,” Bilimoria says. This also might help you find doctors to provide a second (and if necessary, a third) opinion. “If you need surgery or care for a complex condition, you definitely want to get at least two opinions about what should be done,” Bilimoria says.Once you have a few names, you can look up those physicians and their hospitals in the rankings, Bilimoria says.“If you combine a little bit of research in hospital ratings, additional research into your specific area of need, and recommendations from your doctor, you will probably end up making a wise choice,” he says.