Healthgrades names top hospitals for patient experience in 2022

Federal officials and healthcare watchdog say hospitals have seen a decline in patient care due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but some providers are standing out, according to Healthgrades.

Healthgrades has announced the hospitals it has honored for providing the best patient experience in 2022. The website, which offers various rankings on hospitals and healthcare systems, released the list of honorees Tuesday, June 21.

The website examined more than 3,100 hospitals and selected 399 hospitals that scored high marks in taking care of patients.

Brad Bowman, Healthgrades’ chief medical officer and head of data science, noted that the pandemic has taxed hospitals and had an impact in patient care. Hospitals have dealt with staffing shortages and financial difficulties due to the pandemic.

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"It's no surprise that patient experience in our healthcare systems has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it's exceptional that nearly 400 hospitals received top marks in patient experience," Bowman said in a statement. "We commend these hospitals for their ongoing commitment in keeping the patient experience front and center even through challenging times."

The website graded hospitals in 10 different measures of the patient experiences. Two hospitals - Hays Medical Center in Kansas and Penn Highlands Elk - emerged as the only two that improved in all 10 patient areas.

Nine hospitals earned better scores in nine patient measures, while 130 hospitals improved in five or more measures.

Hospitals were evaluated in these 10 categories:

1. Overall rating
2. Recommendation to family and friends
3. Communication with doctors
4. Communication with nurses
5. Responsiveness of hospital staff
6. Communication about medicines
7. Cleanliness
8. Noise levels in patient rooms
9. Discharge information
10. Care transition

The report comes amid growing concern about patient safety, particularly in the pandemic.

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The reversal of gains in patient safety during the pandemic are clear and troubling, according to leaders with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In an analysis published Feb. 12 in the New England Journal of Medicine, the federal officials pointed to an uptick in hospital-based infection seen in the months after the arrival of COVID-19.

Last month, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a report that found 25% of Medicare patients experienced harm in a hospital stay in 2018. The study indicated scant progress from a similar study done 10 years earlier.

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In its new report, Healthgrades said it evaluated 3,173 hospitals that submitted at least 75 patient experience surveys to the CMS. The website examined hospital admissions from July 2020 to March 2021. Hospitals in the bottom 20% for overall clinical quality weren’t considered for the honors.

Find the full list of hospitals honored by Healthgrades here.

Earlier this year, Healthgrades released a new report looking at the hospitals and health systems that excelled during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In that list, Healthgrades recognized 24 hospitals for delivering high quality care to a high volume of COVID-19 patients.

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