U.S. News and World Report’s 2026-2027 Best Hospitals Honor Roll recognizes 20 hospitals, and each is backed by a chief information officer or chief digital information officer steering its technology, data and AI strategy.
Some have held the role for years; others stepped in during 2025 and 2026.
U.S. News evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals across 14 adult specialties and 23 procedures and conditions, and only 16% of evaluated hospitals earned a Best Hospitals designation.
Here are the leaders of each hospital recognized on the honor roll (hospitals are listed in alphabetical order):
Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Boston): Micheal Sweet has served as CIO since May 2024.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Craig Kwiatkowski, PharmD, became senior vice president and CIO in March 2022.
Cleveland Clinic: Sarah Harchett has served as senior vice president and CIO since May 2024.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia): Michael Restuccia became CIO of Penn Medicine in 2006.
Houston Methodist Hospital: Ken Letkeman has been CIO of Houston Methodist since 2018.
Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore): Richard Mendola, PhD, served as CIO of Johns Hopkins Medicine since 2023.
Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston): Brian Blackman has served as CIO since May 2024.
Mayo Clinic-Arizona (Phoenix), Mayo Clinic-Florida (Jacksonville) and Mayo Clinic-Rochester (Minn.): Arun Bhaskara-Baba has been CIO of Mayo Clinic since 2026.
Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City): Lisa Stump has served as chief digital information officer of Mount Sinai Health System since 2024.
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York City): Peter M. Fleischut, MD, became chief information and transformation officer in October 2022.
Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago): Doug King has served as chief digital information officer since 2019.
NYU Langone Hospitals (New York City): Nader Mherabi serves as chief digital and information officer.
Rush University Medical Center (Chicago): Jeff M. Gautney serves as senior vice president and CIO.
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, Calif.): Michael Pfeffer, MD, was appointed as senior vice president and CIO in 2024.
UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest, and East Campus Medical Centers: Joshua Glandorf has served as CIO of UC San Diego Health since 2022.
UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (Los Angeles): Jeanne Markland became CIO of UCLA Health in 2026.
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco): Mark Rauschuber has served as CIO of UCSF Health since March 2023.
University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor: Anika Gardenhire, RN, has served as chief digital and information officer of Michigan Medicine since 2026.
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