best doctor specialties :: Article CreatorHealthgrades Names America's Top Hospitals For Specialty Care
Healthgrades has revealed its 2025 awards for America's top hospitals for specialty care. The rankings include overall specialty rankings, outpatient rankings, and specialty rankings by state. These facilities are among the top 5% or 10% of hospitals nationwide in each specialty area. Choosing the best hospital for healthcare can be challenging, especially if you or someone you know haven't been there before.
Healthgrades aims to make it easier to know whether you are getting care from the best doctors and hospitals.
On October 22, 2024, Healthgrades announced the recipients of hospital quality achievements recognizing excellence in specialty care:
In a press release, Healthgrades stated that its specialty excellence rankings "recognize hospitals for outstanding clinical performance in 16 specialty care areas, including cardiac surgery, critical care, and stroke care."
The outpatient rankings "recognize the national leaders in outpatient care," and the state rankings "identify the top three or five hospitals in each eligible state across 18 key specialties."
Healthgrades noted that they used clinically validated methodologies to make their selections based on patient outcome data.
To choose the top hospitals for specialty care, Healthgrades examined clinical performance data on more than 4,500 hospitals across 31 common procedures and conditions. This enabled them to recognize hospitals with the following awards:
America's 100 Best Hospitals for Specialty Care (for 11 specialty areas) America's 50 Best Hospitals for Specialty Care (for three speciality areas) Healthgrades explained that the Specialty Excellence ratings and awards were determined using Medicare inpatient data for years 2021 through 2023.
This included data on deaths of patients undergoing certain procedures or with specific health conditions, and complications resulting from other procedures.
To identify the top hospitals, Healthgrades uses a four-step procedure:
Calculate the predicted number of deaths or complications at each hospital for these procedures and conditions. Compare the predicted value to the actual number of deaths or complications at each hospital. Determine whether the difference between the predicted and actual values is statistically significant. Use the statistical analysis to determine a hospital's performance in each category. For each condition or procedure, hospital performance was broken down into three categories:
Better than expected As expected Worse than expected The top 5% or 10% of hospitals within each specialty area are recognized as Specialty Excellence Award recipients or Outpatient Speciality Excellence Award recipients.
In the press release, Brad Bowman, MD, chief medical officer and head of data science at Healthgrades, said, "Our specialty awards highlight top-performing hospitals across medical specialties, empowering consumers to find high quality care for their unique needs. Doing your research ahead of time and understanding where you can find high quality care can positively impact your healthcare journey and overall experience."
Sara Mathew, associate director of research and operations administration at Weill Cornell Medicine, says Healthgrades hospital rankings are "valuable tools" for patients.
"[These rankings] include data on surgical outcomes and complication rates, making it easier for patients to make informed decisions without needing specialized knowledge of the healthcare system," she told Healthline.
Mathew noted that in the past, people searching for high quality healthcare depended on referrals from primary care physicians, friends, or family members. But now, many prefer to conduct their own research, including using online reviews and rankings.
"This is especially important in areas with multiple hospitals and healthcare providers, where the right choice can significantly impact not only treatment outcomes but also the overall patient experience, including how doctors, nurses, and staff interact, the cleanliness of facilities, and how promptly concerns are addressed," she said.
However, she emphasized that Healthgrades rankings should be used as just one part of the decision making process. Patients should also consider other factors, such as whether a hospital or provider is in their health insurance's network, the location of the facilities, and recommendations from their primary care physician.
"By combining these considerations, patients can make the best healthcare decisions tailored to their individual needs," she said.
Healthgrades announced the recipients of hospital quality achievements for excellence in specialty care, including the 2025 Speciality Excellence Awards, 2025 Outpatient Awards, and 2025 Speciality State Rankings.
The rankings are based on clinical performance data on more than 4,500 hospitals across 31 common procedures and conditions, including cardiac surgery, critical care, and stroke care.
Experts say the Healthgrades rankings are a valuable tool for patients and can help them make informed healthcare decisions. However, this information should be used in conjunction with other factors such as insurance coverage, location, and recommendations from their own primary care physician.
Healthgrades and Healthline are part of the RVO Health portfolio of brands.
Find A Doctor Near You
Each spring, we ask nearly 13,000 doctors in DC, Maryland, & Virginia to tell us which colleague they would recommend in a variety of specialties. To ensure the data's accuracy, each physician was sent an online survey and obliged to log in with a current medical-license number registered in either the District, Maryland, or Virginia. Doctors could submit just one ballot each and could not vote for themselves. The top vote-getters in each of 39 categories were designated Top Doctors.
In this online list, winning physicians are identified with a "Best Doctors" logo. Our digital listings of physicians' contact information also includes sponsors, but only top doctors designees carry the award logo.
FAQs
I don't see my doctor's name here! Should I switch?
If your physician isn't on our list, that doesn't mean he or she isn't providing good care. Some doctors who practice in large hospital departments aren't part of normal referral networks and may often go unnamed. By the same token, some may work at smaller practices or are younger and not as widely known. If you like your doctor, it makes sense to continue that relationship.
Isn't this just a big popularity contest?
In some ways, yes. Asking for a referral means your doctor will probably give you the name of the first physician who comes to mind, and this person is likely to be in your doctor's circle. One difference here: It's a good bet 13,000 doctors means a broader circle of professional associates.
I once went to one of the doctors on your list and it was a terrible experience.
While physicians may vote for the colleagues they respect, their experience interacting with them might be limited, so we recommend that you use good judgment. If you feel uncomfortable with a doctor, despite his or her credentials, find another.
Have a Question? Need to Update the Information in Your Current Listing?
Please email [email protected] or call 202-739-2441.
Wondering How to Enhance Your Listing So That It Includes a Photo?
Please email [email protected] or call 202-296-1246.
*Washingtonian did not research or include the Acupuncturist category in the 2022 Top Doctors list.
Healthgrades Names Mission Hospital America's Best In Multiple Categories
Press release from Mission Health:
ASHEVILLE, NC – November 4, 2024 – Mission Hospital announced today that it is one of America's 100 Best Hospitals for Coronary Intervention™; Orthopedic Surgery™; Stroke Care™; Prostate Surgeries™; Gastrointestinal Care™; Gastrointestinal Surgery™; Critical Care™; and Surgical Care™, for 2025 according to new research released by Healthgrades, the leading resource consumers use to find a hospital or doctor. Healthgrades identified the 100 Best hospitals for 16 of the most common specialty care areas – recipient hospitals represent the Top 2% of hospitals for each specialty. This distinction, along with numerous other accolades from Healthgrades, reflects Mission Hospital's outstanding clinical performance and distinguishes it as one of the country's leading hospitals.
"It's always exciting to see the independent evaluations of the quality care provided at Mission Hospital. While these recognitions highlight the efforts of individual teams, they also validate the overall exceptional care at Mission Hospital and I'm so proud of all of our colleagues who contributed to that care," said Greg Lowe, President, Mission Health.
Healthgrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and complications. By focusing on what matters most, patient outcomes, the Healthgrades ratings provide critical feedback for both patients and hospitals. By offering easy access to objective performance measures, Healthgrades gives consumers the information they need to find a hospital that excels in providing the care they need. And, by shining a light on strengths and weaknesses, the Healthgrades ratings help direct hospitals to opportunities for clinical improvement. The 2024 hospital assessment evaluated patient mortality and complication rates for 35 common conditions and procedures at approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide to identify the top performers.
In the 2025 North Carolina State rankings, Healthgrades found Mission Hospital to be No. 1 in the state for Critical Care; Cardiology; Stroke Care and Gastrointestinal Care, Medical Treatment and Surgery. In addition, Healthgrades put Mission Hospital in the top 5% of the nation for Treatment of Stroke, Prostate Surgery, Overall GI Services; Gastrointestinal Surgery; GI Medical Treatment; Critical Care; Surgical Care; and Outpatient Joint Replacement.
Mission Hospital also achieved numerous five-star ratings for specialty care for 2025, according Heathgrades research. Mission Hospital's Five-Star ratings include: Coronary Interventional Procedures; Treatment of Heart Attack; Treatment of Heart Failure; Defibrillator Procedures; Pacemaker Procedures; Hip Fracture Treatment; Back Surgery; Treatment of Stroke; Treatment of Pneumonia; Repair of Abdominal Aorta; Peripheral Vascular Bypass; Prostate Removal Surgery; Colorectal Surgeries; Treatment of GI Bleed; Gallbladder Removal Surgery; Treatment of Sepsis; Treatment of Respiratory Failure; Treatment of Diabetic Emergencies; Outpatient Total Knee Replacement; and Outpatient Total Hip Replacement.
These five-star ratings reflect Mission Hospital's commitment to consistently delivering the best care possible and places the organization in the upper echelon of hospitals for specialty care nationwide.
The 2024 Healthgrades analysis revealed that the variation in performance among hospitals continues to widen, making it increasingly important to seek care at top-rated programs. From 2020-2022, patients treated at hospitals among America's 100 Best have, on average, a 63.5% lower risk of experiencing a complication than if treated in hospitals that did not receive the award.*
"Healthgrades congratulates Mission Hospital for being a national leader and demonstrating a deep commitment to providing high quality care to all patients," said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Data Science at Healthgrades. "As health systems nationwide endeavor to elevate the quality of care, these elite facilities provide a roadmap for success. We commend Mission Hospital for their dedication to excellence in patient care."
Consumers can visit Healthgrades.Com to learn more about how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access a patient-friendly overview of how we rate and why hospital quality matters here.
*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for 2020 through 2022 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only. Click here to view the complete 2024 Specialty Awards and Ratings Methodology.
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