Methodology for the Fortune/PINC AI 100 Top Hospitals 2024

100 Top Hospitals Methodology Overview

To conduct the 100 Top Hospitals study, researchers evaluated 2,601 short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals. All research was based on the following public data sets: Medicare cost reports, Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) data, and measure data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare website. We select the annual 100 Top Hospitals award winners (benchmark hospitals) using our objective methodology based on publicly available data and a balanced scorecard of performance measures, using the most current data available. Hospitals do not apply for awards, and winners do not pay to market this honor. For more information, visit http://www.100tophospitals.com.

Fortune/PINC AI 100 Top Hospitals 202 4 : Teaching Hospitals

Fortune/PINC AI 100 Top Hospitals 2024 : Community Hospitals

Class definition
Each hospital is defined within a class based on their bed size and teaching status.
Major Teaching – 213 Hospitals
Teaching – 643 Hospitals
Large Community – 226 Hospitals
Medium Community – 719 Hospitals
Small Community – 800 Hospitals

Final rank
Final Rank is determined based on performance for all individual measures. Hospitals are ranked within their Class definition group.

Everest Winner Methodology

The 100 Top Hospitals Everest award honors hospitals that have both the highest current performance and the fastest long-term improvement in the five years of trend data analyzed. Our methodology for selecting the Everest award winners can be summarized in three main steps:

1. Selecting the annual 100 Top Hospitals award winners.

2. Using our five-year trending methodology to select the 100 hospitals that have shown the fastest, most consistent improvement rates on the same balanced scorecard of performance measures.

3. Identifying those hospitals that ranked in the top 100 on both lists: These hospitals are the Everest award winners.

Community Champion Award

The Community Champion award recognizes hospitals that excel in providing equitable care. This selective award recognizes 100 Top Hospitals award winners who also serve a higher proportion of patients with significant social needs relative to the entire in-study population.

Our methodology for selecting the Community Champion award winners can be summarized in three main steps:

1. 100 Top Hospitals award winners are selected using our objective methodology based on publicly available data and a balanced scorecard of performance measures using the most current data available.

2. Calculate a hospital-level Social Drivers of Health (SDOH) index based on a wide range of social factors generally associated with adverse outcomes and higher cost of care. This index is comprised of dual eligibility, low-income subsidy, disability, and end-stage renal failure status with Medicare and Medicaid, urban rural status, and ICD-10 coding indicating the presence of behavioral health and SDOH factors. Mean SDOH indices are calculated for each in-study facility.

3. 100 Top Hospitals award winners with a mean SDOH index in the top quintile of highest risk patients are awarded the Community Champion award.

Community Health Measure for 2023

For the 2024 100 Top Hospitals Study, we focused on the three components proposed by the Bloomberg American Health Initiative and the Center for Health Equity at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that would be derived from a hospital survey. The survey focuses on the role that a hospital can play including:

(1) acting as a health care provider to provide services critical for community health and offering critical preventive services; (2) acting as a partner and teaming up with local organizations to implement critical programs; and (3) acting as an anchor institution and supporting local economic and social progress.

The community health measure is measured as a percentage. 100% is the highest score possible. Submitting a survey and sharing your data is 25% (data transparency). Each of the other components of the survey—hospital as a provider, hospital as a partner, and hospital as an anchor institution is worth an additional 25%. In order to receive the full 25% for each component, hospitals needed to attest to at least half of the best practice standards.

Where a hospital did not submit a survey in the 2024 study year, but had previously submitted one in the last three study years, those previous survey results were included in the calculation of the the 2024 final ranking.

Hospital measure domains

Clinical outcomes
There are five clinical measures used in the scorecard. Measures include (1) risk-adjusted IP mortality, (2) risk-adjusted complications, (3) health care associated infections*, (4) 30-day mortality, and (5) 30-day readmissions. *Health care associated infections are excluded for the Small Community Hospitals peer group.

Operational efficiency
There are three operational efficiency measures used in the scorecard: (1) severity adjusted length of stay, (2) Medicare spending per beneficiary, and (3) adjusted inpatient expense per discharge.

Patient experience
The patient experience measure reflects the overall patient rating from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey tool.

Financial health
The financial health measure used in the scorecard is adjusted operating profit margin.

Community health survey performance
The community health survey performance is based on the survey developed by the Bloomberg
American Health Initiative and the Center for Health Equity at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Stars key:

5 stars (★★★★★) = Hospital performing at top quintile (>80-100%) within their peer group
4 stars (★★★★) = Hospital performing within second quintile (>60-80%) within their peer group
3 stars (★★★) = Hospital performing within third quintile (>40-60%) within their peer group
2 stars (★★) = Hospital performing within fourth quintile (>20-40%) within their peer group
1 star (★) = Hospital performing in the bottom quintile (0-20%) within their peer group

PREMIER, PINC AI, 100 TOP HOSPITALS, 15 TOP HEALTH SYSTEMS, and 50 TOP CARDIOVASCULAR HOSPITALS are registered/unregistered trademarks of Premier Healthcare Alliance, L.P. in the United States.