Fourteen Illinois hospitals ranked among the country’s best facilities on a new list from Healthgrades, a Denver-based consumer marketplace for finding physicians and care.
The list, published today, puts Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana among the nation’s top 1%, with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge ranked among the top 2%.
The annual list groups hospitals into the top 50 (1%), 100 (2%) and 250 (5%) nationwide. The rankings are based on Healthgrades’ analysis of performance and outcome clinical data among nearly 4,500 U.S. hospitals across more than 31 of the most common procedures and conditions, like heart attack, stroke, hip replacements and pacemaker surgeries. See the full Illinois list here.
Both Amita Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center Elk Grove Village and Carle Foundation Hospital were ranked among the top 50 in the two previous years. Lutheran General Hospital was ranked among the top 100 hospitals in 2022 and 2021 as well.
Meanwhile, Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the University of Chicago Medical Center joined the list this year and were both ranked among the top 250 hospitals. They were accompanied by Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, OSF Saint Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington, Evanston Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and Javon Bea Hospital–Rockton in Rockford.
Rush University Medical Center is missing from this year’s ranking. The health center did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Some hospitals have criticized and questioned the methodologies and criteria used by ratings organizations, including Healthgrades, U.S. News & World Report and Leapfrog, whose rankings sometimes conflict with one another.
“We appreciate the ongoing efforts made by Healthgrades to improve the usefulness and accessibility of information for consumers,” said Chris King, chief media relations executive at Northwestern Medicine, which owns Northwestern Memorial Hospital. “As an organization committed to providing high-quality, safe, patient-centered care, our physicians, nurses and staff are always focused on doing what is best for our patients.”
UChicago Medical Center didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is one of many hospital rating systems,” Amy Barry, the vice president of corporate communications and marketing at the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, said in a statement to Crain’s. “Each system has a different criteria and methodology. Patients are encouraged to do their research when choosing a hospital for their healthcare needs and it is very important to get the full picture by accessing all the rating tools available.”
Healthgrades said it publishes the list to help consumers find the best care in their area. The organization says that if all hospitals performed similarly to the best 250 providers on its list, more than 160,000 lives could have been saved in 2019 and 2021.
“With these awards, we are helping consumers identify the highest quality care in their community by celebrating the hospitals that consistently deliver better-than-expected clinical outcomes,” Burt Kann, the executive vice president and head of product at Healthgrades, said in a statement.
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