Vizient named its 2026 top performers for quality, recognizing hospitals across seven cohorts and five medical groups for ambulatory care.
The Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Award is based on the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study. The study scores hospitals in six domains: safety, mortality, effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness and variation in care, according to a Sept. 24 news release from the company.
The data comes from the Vizient Clinical Data Base, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey and the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network. The clinical database covers more than 1,600 hospitals across more than 250 health systems in 49 states.
“We are seeing hospitals experience higher acuity patients with better outcomes including lower expected mortality, length of stay and complications year over year,” said David Levine, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Vizient. “These Top Performers understand improvement requires putting insights into action.”
Vizient announced the awards Sept. 23 at its Connections Summit in Las Vegas. Hospitals are listed below in the order Vizient published them.
Comprehensive academic medical centers
- NYU Langone Health (New York City)
- Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago)
- Houston Methodist Hospital
- Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center & UT Health (Houston)
- Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)
- Penn Medicine Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
- Intermountain Health Intermountain Medical Center (Murray, Utah)
- University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics (Salt Lake City)
- Mayo Clinic Rochester (Minn.)
- Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.)
- Keck Hospital of USC (Los Angeles)
- Cleveland Clinic
Large, specialized complex care medical centers
- Houston Methodist Willowbrook (Texas) Hospital
- Intermountain Health McKay-Dee Hospital (Ogden, Utah)
- NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island (Mineola, N.Y.)
- Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital
- ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah (Wis.)
- NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn (New York City)
- Intermountain Health Utah Valley Hospital (Provo)
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, Ill.)
- AdventHealth Waterman (Tavares, Fla.)
- Intermountain Health St. George (Utah) Regional Hospital
- ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton (Wis.)
- Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital (Palos Heights, Ill.)
- Inova Loudoun Hospital (Leesburg, Va.)
- Cleveland Clinic Weston (Fla.) Hospital
- UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies (Loveland, Colo.)
- AdventHealth Daytona Beach (Fla.)
- Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center (Charlotte, N.C.)
- Mayo Clinic Florida (Jacksonville)
- Memorial Hermann The Woodlands (Texas) Medical Center
- AdventHealth Porter (Denver)
- Missouri Baptist Medical Center (St. Louis)
- Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire (Wis.)
- AdventHealth Ocala (Fla.)
- NewYork-Presbyterian Queens (Flushing, N.Y.)
- Cleveland Clinic Hillcrest Hospital (Mayfield Heights, Ohio)
- Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital (Wheat Ridge, Colo.)
- Emory St. Joseph’s Hospital (Atlanta)
Complex care medical centers
- Houston Methodist Baytown (Texas) Hospital
- Houston Methodist West Houston Hospital
- Houston Methodist Cypress (Texas) Hospital
- Houston Methodist The Woodlands (Texas) Hospital
- AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (Fla.)
- AdventHealth Fish Memorial (Orange City, Fla.)
- Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital (West Chester, Pa.)
- Northwestern Medicine McHenry (Ill.) Hospital
- AHN Wexford (Pa.) Hospital
- Houston Methodist Sugar Land (Texas) Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital (Geneva, Ill.)
- AdventHealth North Pinellas (Tarpon Springs, Fla.)
- Adventist Health Castle (Kailua, Hawaii)
- Memorial Hermann Pearland Hospital (Pearland, Texas)
- Riverview Medical Center (Red Bank, N.J.)
- UChicago Medicine AdventHealth Hinsdale (Ill.)
- AdventHealth Zephyrhills (Fla.)
- Intermountain Health St. Joseph Hospital (Denver)
- SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital-St. Charles (Mo.)
- AdventHealth Redmond (Rome, Ga.)
- AdventHealth Celebration (Fla.)
- MedStar Union Memorial Hospital (Baltimore)
- OhioHealth Pickerington (Ohio) Methodist Hospital
- Yale New Haven Health-Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital
- Cleveland Clinic Tradition Hospital (Port St. Lucie, Fla.)
- Inova Alexandria (Va.) Hospital
Community hospitals
- AdventHealth Dade City (Fla.)
- AdventHealth South Overland Park (Kan.)
- Froedtert West Bend (Wis.) Hospital
- Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital (Nassau Bay, Texas)
- AdventHealth Winter Garden (Fla.)
- ProHealth Oconomowoc (Wis.) Memorial Hospital
- Intermountain Health LDS Hospital (Salt Lake City)
- Intermountain Health American Fork (Utah) Hospital
- Northwestern Medicine Huntley (Ill.) Hospital
- Jefferson Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hecktown Oaks (Easton, Pa.)
- AdventHealth Riverview (Fla.)
- AdventHealth Avista (Louisville, Colo.)
- AdventHealth Gordon (Calhoun, Ga.)
- AdventHealth Castle Rock (Colo.)
- Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital (St. Louis)
- Northwell Syosset (N.Y.) Hospital
- Progress West HealthCare Center (O’Fallon, Mo.)
- Prisma Health Hillcrest Hospital (Simpsonville, S.C.)
- Cleveland Clinic Avon (Ohio) Hospital
- Penn State Health Lancaster (Pa.) Medical Center
- MedStar Harbor Hospital (Baltimore)
- AdventHealth Apopka (Fla.)
Small community hospitals
- The University of Kansas Health System Paola
- Intermountain Health Park City (Utah) Medical Center
- AdventHealth Murray (Chatsworth, Ga.)
- Northeast Georgia Medical Center Lumpkin (Dahlonega, Ga.)
- Baptist Memorial Hospital-Crittenden (West Memphis, Ark.)
- Intermountain Health Sevier Valley Hospital (Richfield, Utah)
- The University of Kansas Health System Great Bend Campus
- Intermountain Health Layton (Utah) Hospital
- Intermountain Health Spanish Fork (Utah) Hospital
- Christus Jasper (Texas) Memorial Hospital
- Novant Health Ballantyne Medical Center (Charlotte, N.C.)
- Novant Health Mint Hill (N.C.) Medical Center
- Fairview Northland Regional Hospital (Princeton, Minn.)
- Parkview DeKalb Hospital (Auburn, Ind.)
- OhioHealth Van Wert (Ohio) Hospital
- AdventHealth Lake Placid (Fla.)
- AdventHealth Manchester (Ky.)
- Allina Health Faribault (Minn.) Medical Center
- UPMC Passavant-Cranberry (Cranberry Township, Pa.)
- Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus (St. Marys, Ga.)
- Vanderbilt Bedford Hospital (Shelbyville, Tenn.)
- Tucson (Ariz.) Medical Center Rincon
- Geisinger Bloomsburg (Pa.) Hospital
- MUSC Health Black River Medical Center (Cades, S.C.)
Critical access hospitals
- Intermountain Health Delta (Utah) Community Hospital
- Essentia Health Ada (Minn.)
- Ochsner Laird Hospital (Union, Miss.)
- Ochsner Scott Regional Hospital (Forest, Miss.)
- Emplify Health Oconto (Wis.) Hospital
- Ochsner Watkins Hospital (Quitman, Miss.)
- Intermountain Health Heber Valley Hospital (Heber City, Utah)
- ThedaCare Medical Center-Wild Rose (Wis.)
- West Tennessee Healthcare Camden (Tenn.) Hospital
- Corewell Health Gerber Hospital (Fremont, Mich.)
- Parkview Wabash (Ind.) Hospital
- Corewell Health Pennock Hospital (Hastings, Mich.)
- St. Luke’s Jerome Medical Center (Idaho)
- West Tennessee Healthcare Bolivar Hospital
- Hedrick Medical Center (Chillicothe, Mo.)
- Carilion Giles Community Hospital (Pearisburg, Va.)
Pediatric hospital cohort
- Rush University Medical Center (Chicago)
- Carilion Roanoke (Va.) Memorial Hospital
- Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center (Wilmington, N.C.)
- Atlantic Health Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center
- Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital (Royal Oak, Mich.)
- Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach (Calif.)
- Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, Ill.)
- The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Rising star award
This award goes to organizations that climbed at least 20 spots in the Quality and Accountability Study from the year before and scored in the top 25.
- Abbott Northwestern Hospital (Minneapolis)
Ambulatory quality and accountability award
This award rates outpatient care in five domains: access to care, continuum of care, quality, efficiency and variation in care.
- NYU Langone Faculty Group Practice (New York City)
- University of Miami Health System
- UCLA Health System Clinics (Los Angeles)
- Northwestern Health Network Medical Group (Chicago)
- University of Utah Medical Group (Salt Lake City)
Supply chain stewardship award
This award recognizes leadership in sustainability and responsible sourcing, based on program maturity and executive commitment.
- Comprehensive academic medical center (tie): Rush System for Health (Chicago) and Stanford Health Care (Palo Alto, Calif.)
- Large, specialized medical center: Parkland Health (Dallas)
- Complex care medical center: Providence (Renton, Wash.)
- Community medical center: Legacy Health (Portland, Ore.)
- Small community medical center: Corewell Health (Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich.)
- Critical access care: Geisinger System Services (Danville, Pa.)
- Pediatric hospital: Valley Children’s Healthcare (Madera, Calif.)
