Healthgrades Names its 100 Best Hospitals for 2016

The Top 50 hospitals, representing the top 1% of all hospitals, are located in 22 states.

Healthgrades, the online healthcare provider rating service, has released its widely read list of America's 50 and 100 Best Hospitals for 2016.

The Top 50 hospitals, representing the top 1% of all hospitals, were located in 22 states. No hospitals cracked the Top 50 in 28 states, nor the Top 100 in 23 states. California had the most Top 50 hospitals, with nine, and 11 other California hospitals were in the Top 100. Illinois followed with all seven of its selections in the Top 50.

Massachusetts placed only one hospital on the Top 50 list: Baystate Medical Center, a 716-bed independent academic medical center in Springfield. Eight other Massachusetts hospitals made the Top 100 list.

This year's report comes with an infographic titled Hospital Choice: Your life may depend on it, which, not surprisingly,  encourages healthcare consumers to use Healthgrades before deciding on a provider.

"We are pleased to recognize those organizations that have achieved this distinction and urge all consumers to do their homework when selecting a hospital—especially as it relates to emergent conditions—since hospitals do not perform equally," Evan Marks, Healthgrades' chief strategy officer, said in remarks accompanying the report.

A description accompanying the 2016 list claims that America's 100 Best Hospitals had an overall 26.5% lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate for 19 procedures and conditions, compared with other hospitals. If those lesser hospitals had performed at this level, Healthgrades estimates, more than 170,000 lives could potentially have been saved from 2012 to 2014.

During the 2016 study period, the top hospitals showed superior performance in clinical outcomes for patients in the Medicare population across at least 21 of 32 of the most common inpatient conditions and procedures as measured by risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications.

As a group, the Top 100 hospitals received five-star ratings that correlated with better outcomes than lower-rated hospitals in key areas, including:

•  Heart Attack: 63% of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating (statistically significantly lower mortality rate) for the treatment of heart attack compared to only 12% for all other hospitals
• Stroke: 60% of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating for the treatment of stroke compared to only 13% for all other hospitals
• Pneumonia: 80% of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating for the treatment of pneumonia compared to only 14% for all other hospitals
• COPD: 46% of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating for the treatment of COPD compared to only 6% for all other hospitals
• Sepsis: 94% of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating for the treatment of sepsis compared to only 21% for all other hospitals

The 22 states without hospitals on the Healthgrades Top 100 list were

• ALABAMA
• ALASKA
• ARKANSAS
• CONNECTICUT
• DELAWARE
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
• HAWAII
• KENTUCKY
• MAINE
• MISSISSIPPI
• MONTANA
• NEBRASKA
• NEVADA
• NEW MEXICO
• NORTH DAKOTA
• OKLAHOMA
• RHODE ISLAND
• SOUTH DAKOTA
• TENNESSEE
• UTAH
• VERMONT
• WEST VIRGINIA
• WYOMING

Healtgrades designates Top 100 hospitals as those have been "in the top 2% of hospitals in the nation for exhibiting clinical excellence for at least three consecutive years."  The Top 50 hospitals are those have been in the  "top 1%... for at least six consecutive years."