For 10 of Healthgrades’ “triple crown” awardees, the source of their success is a strong culture focused on the patient-first mindset and staff empowerment.
Healthgrades recognized the 16 hospitals that earned Outstanding Patient Experience, Patient Safety Excellence, and America’s Best Hospitals distinctions for 2026 — making them “Triple Crown” awardees. The organization evaluated 3,020 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to CMS’ Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems between January and December 2024. Hospitals were evaluated on patient survey data on 10 patient experience measures. Recipients of the outstanding patient experience award earned the highest overall experience scores.
Becker’s asked leaders at these hospitals what operational or cultural factors were pivotal in becoming a Triple Crown awardee, and what results these factors have led to. Here is what they shared.
Editor’s note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
David Bernard, CEO of Houston Methodist The Woodlands (Texas): Several factors have been foundational to our success. First, we’ve created a culture where quality, safety and service are everyone’s responsibility. We empower every member of our team to collaborate, speak up and continuously improve. Second, we’ve invested in exceptional people, fostering teamwork, evidence-based practice and continuous learning. Finally, we’ve built highly reliable processes supported by rigorous measurement and accountability, allowing us to consistently deliver outstanding clinical outcomes while maintaining an exceptional patient experience.
Our focus on safety, quality and patient experience has led to better outcomes, safer care and a more compassionate, personalized experience for the patients and families we serve. It has also shaped a culture where safety, quality and service are inseparable, what we often refer to as our sacred ‘AND.’ We believe patients should never have to choose between exceptional clinical outcomes, a safe environment and an outstanding care experience. That commitment challenges every member of our team to work together and continuously elevate all three. The result is highly reliable, patient-centered care that improves lives, earns the trust of our patients and families and strengthens our ability to meet the evolving healthcare needs of our growing community for years to come.
Michael Garcia, RN. CEO of Houston Methodist Sugar Land (Texas): Perhaps the most influential factor that led to the Triple Crown was the culture in our organization — recognizing our people and having our team focus on the patient as the center of everything we do. Keeping that philosophy in place is what led to our success as a Triple Crown awardee.
When we think about putting the patient at the center of everything we do on a day-to-day basis — one of the aspects of the Triple Crown is focusing on patient experience. Patient experience is something we emphasize here at Houston Methodist Sugar Land, and the ask of every employee on our campus is: How do you create a meaningful experience for that patient? It doesn’t matter who you are or what your role is — whether you’re in food and nutrition services, a transporter, a registrar. How do you have that meaningful experience with that patient? Day to day, that means greeting people with a smile, acknowledging individuals. These are the fundamentals of what we do every day. That’s just a small example of how we create a meaningful patient experience from the first interaction.
Our metrics go red, yellow, green, blue to highlight where we stand from a score perspective. I’m proud to say Houston Methodist Sugar Land is consistently green and blue on patient experience metrics.
Adrienne Joseph, PhD. CEO of Houston Methodist Baytown (Texas) Hospital and senior vice president of Houston Methodist: Several factors have contributed to our success, beginning with a culture that puts patients and their families at the center of everything we do. Guided by Houston Methodist President and CEO Dr. Marc Boom’s vision for the second century, we strive for unparalleled safety, quality, service and innovation. Our I CARE values of integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence establish a shared expectation across our hospital that every employee has a role in delivering an exceptional patient experience.
Operationally, we are data-driven and action-oriented, with a strong focus on continuous improvement. We closely monitor quality, safety and patient experience metrics and translate those insights into next steps. Our teams are empowered to bring forth new ideas, address concerns in real time, improve processes and share accountability for our results.
These factors have helped Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital achieve meaningful results across safety, quality and patient experience. The impact of this work is reflected not only in our Healthgrades Triple Crown recognition, but also in the strong clinical outcomes and national distinctions we have earned from organizations that independently evaluate hospital quality, safety and performance.
Chris Lancaster. President of Baylor Scott & White Medical Center-Hillcrest (Waco, Texas): What truly distinguishes Baylor Scott & White-Hillcrest is our people. What I see every day in our entire team, from our physicians and nurses to the support staff and all our leaders, is a strong connection to their purpose and calling. They entered healthcare to make a difference in the lives of patients and families, and that commitment drives everything we do.
We emphasize a simple message for our teams: focus on delivering safe, compassionate, high-quality care, and creating the best possible experience for every patient. When people stay connected to that purpose, exceptional results follow. Our culture is also grounded in Baylor Scott & White’s values, which reinforce a mindset of continuous improvement, accountability, and teamwork. They challenge us to keep raising the bar because the communities we serve deserve nothing less.
Achieving top performance in clinical quality, patient safety, and patient experience requires a sustained commitment from every member of the organization. The same culture that drives clinical excellence also drives the patient experience. When caregivers are empowered, aligned around a common purpose and committed to working together, patients benefit through safer care, stronger outcomes and more meaningful interactions throughout their healthcare journey.
Shabnam Lankarani, DO. Chief Medical Officer at Inova Fair Oaks Hospital (Fairfax, Va.): Our philosophy has always been simple: do the right thing for patients and team members, and the results will follow. We have built a strong culture of safety and psychological safety, where team members are encouraged to speak up, learn from near misses and great catches, and address challenges early. Daily huddles and our 3×5 Safety Toolkit — a high reliability framework built to strengthen a culture of safety and team performance — help make those practices part of our everyday work. Just as importantly, our team members are at the center of everything we do. We invest in them, listen to them and work together across the system to continuously improve care.
Our work has translated into strong performance across clinical quality, patient safety and patient experience. We have delivered top-tier results in mortality, readmissions and length of stay, while maintaining industry-leading team member and nurse turnover rates.
Rose Lanndon. President of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital (Barrington, Ill.): Our culture centers on putting patients first, empowering teammates, and fostering collaboration among physicians, advanced practice professionals, nurses and support departments. Every teammate understands their role in delivering safe, compassionate, high-quality care and how it contributes to our overall success.
Operationally, we prioritize interdisciplinary teamwork, visible leadership, high-reliability practices and daily data review to drive continuous improvement. Front-line teammates and clinicians are actively engaged in identifying opportunities, solving problems and implementing improvements to enhance safety and patient experience.
Our culture is reflected in the strong teammate engagement and Culture of Safety survey results. We believe these results are deeply connected to our ability to provide exceptional care. When teammates feel supported, engaged, and empowered to speak up, patients benefit through safer care, stronger teamwork and better experience. This culture of collaboration reduces variation, improves efficiency, and supports the delivery of high-quality care while maintaining a lower overall cost of care.
Ultimately, our greatest measure of success is the trust patients place in us.
Kevin McGeachy, FACHE, President of Mather Hospital (Port Jefferson, N.Y.): We are relentless in our pursuit of quality and safety, so much so that it’s our true north. Our true north is about safety first, always. That’s the motto that carries through in this building. We begin every leadership meeting talking about quality and safety — we don’t start with finance. Then we talk about some patient experience numbers. But we begin with the premise that improving quality and safety affects patient experience and patient satisfaction, because that’s how patients view quality — how engaged and compassionate the caregivers were, how well they felt the team communicated with each other. That’s really become our culture, and it’s intentional. For us, it’s a differentiator that lets us stand out in a crowded marketplace.
For us, this is long-term thinking. You can never think short-term and chase short-term wins at the expense of what you’re really trying to do, which is mold and shape a culture that puts patients at the top.
Marian Savage, PhD, RN. Vice President for Quality and Patient Experience at Roper St. Francis Healthcare (Charleston, S.C.): Achieving Triple Crown recognition isn’t the result of one initiative. It’s a reflection of years of intentionally building a culture where quality, safety and patient experience are everyone’s responsibility. Operationally, we standardize evidence-based care, we use real data to drive improvement, and we establish clear accountability. Every one of our teammates — we call our employees teammates — understands that safety and quality are part of their daily work. That’s what makes excellence sustainable rather than episodic.
Culturally, we’re really focused on psychological safety, so that our teammates feel empowered to identify risks, speak up and solve problems before they reach patients. We use just culture algorithms, and we’ve worked hard over the last few years to promote that psychological safety. I think that’s important for transparency — our front-line teammates need to feel empowered to let us know when there’s a problem, when they see something, so that we’re able to act on it. That’s an intentional culture shift. All teammates need to feel not only empowered, but confident they won’t be blamed or pushed out if there’s an issue.
We’ve seen significant reductions in preventable harm, like infections, improvement in patient outcomes around readmissions and length of stay, and really strong patient experience scores. There’s been a real focus on those patient experience scores, because that’s the voice of our patients. All of that comes together to create a high-reliability, evidence-based care delivery system.
Kyle Stanzel, CEO of Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital and senior vice president of Houston Methodist: We focus on doing the right thing for every patient, every time. Awards are the result of that commitment — not the goal. We work to engage everybody, every day. Through daily huddles and team communication, staff stay connected to our priorities and to one another. Every team member is empowered to speak up, “stop the line” if something doesn’t seem right and continuously look for ways to improve. There’s a strong family culture here, which reflects the family-oriented community we serve. We want people to feel that connection while ensuring every patient receives the exceptional level of care they expect from Houston Methodist.
Our I CARE values — integrity, compassion, accountability, respect and excellence — bring it all together. When you have engaged staff who share those values and a commitment to excellence, that translates directly to the safe, high-quality and compassionate care that our patients experience.
We see a direct connection between engaged staff and the experience of our patients. Our employee opinion survey results rank in the 99th percentile, reflecting a highly engaged workforce. That engagement carries through to the compassionate, high-quality care our teams provide every day.
Catherine Turner, MSN, RN. Chief Nurse Executive at Sutter Roseville (Calif.) Medical Center: As a nurse, I’ve always believed that a positive patient experience starts with a positive work environment and engaged caregivers. When our teams feel supported, valued and connected to their work, they’re better positioned to make every patient feel seen, heard and respected. Clinical excellence and compassion go hand in hand. Our caregivers, physicians and staff are united by a commitment to safe, high-quality, patient-centered care. We collaborate, listen closely to patient feedback and are always looking for ways to improve.
One of the biggest results is the trust our patients place in us. When patients feel heard, informed and supported, it strengthens the partnership between patients and caregivers and contributes to better care.
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