Forbes this month released its ranking of "America's Best Large Employers" and "America's Best Midsize Employers" for 2019.

Just updated: Get 1-page cheat sheets on how "best places to work" organizations are chosen

About the rankings

For the rankings, Forbes worked with statistics firm Statista to cull data from a survey of 50,000 U.S. employees. In the survey, respondents were asked to rate on a scale from zero to 10 how likely they were to recommend their organization to others. The survey also asked employees to recommend companies other than their own.

The final "Best Large Employers" and "Best Midsize Employers" lists each feature 500 companies. The lists include health care employers across several categories, including "health care and social," "drugs and biotechnology," "health care equipment and services," and "insurance."

The best large health care employers

Twenty-five health care organizations—including 21 Advisory Board members—made the list of large "health care and social" employers, including:

1. Mayo Clinic* (Rochester, Minnesota);
2. MD Anderson Cancer Center* (Houston);
3. Seattle Children's* (Seattle);
4. Cincinnati Children's* (Cincinnati);
5. Shriners Hospitals for Children* (Tampa, Florida);
6. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center* (New York);
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8. UCLA Health* (Los Angeles);
9. OSF HealthCare (Peoria, Illinois);
10. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia* (Philadelphia);
11. New Hanover Regional Medical Center* (Wilmington, North Carolina);
12. University of Utah Health Care* (Salt Lake City);
13. Kaiser Permanente* (Oakland, California);
14. Cleveland Clinic* (Cleveland);
15. Nationwide Children's Hospital* (Columbus, Ohio);
16. Duke University Health System* (Durham, North Carolina);
17. Parkview Health* (Fort Wayne, Indiana);
18. Johns Hopkins Medicine* (Baltimore);
19. Boston Children's Hospital (Boston);
20. UC San Diego Health* (San Diego);
21. University Hospitals* (Cleveland);
22. Houston Methodist* (Houston);
23. Cedars-Sinai Health System* (Los Angeles);
24. Yale New Haven Health* (New Haven, Connecticut);
25. Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston, South Carolina); and
26. Texas Children's Hospital (Houston).

* Denotes Advisory Board member

In addition, 25 drug and biotech companies, 15 health care equipment and service companies, and eight health insurers made the best large employer list—including 28 Advisory Board members across the categories:

1. Lily* (Indianapolis);
2. Boston Scientific* (Marlborough, Massachusetts);
3. AbbVie* (Chicago);
4. Biogen* (Cambridge, Massachusetts);
5. Cook Medical* (Bloomington, Indiana);
6. AstraZeneca* (Cambridge, United Kingdom);
7. Stryker* (Kalamazoo, Michigan);
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9. Johnson & Johnson* (New Brunswick, New Jersey);
10. Roche Holding* (Basel, Switzerland);
11. Novartis* (Basel, Switzerland);
12. Abbott Laboratories* (Abbott Park, Illinois);
13. Bayer* (Leverkusen, Germany);
14. Medtronic (Dublin, Ireland);
15. Pfizer* (New York);
16. Medline Industries* (Northfield, Illinois);
17. Baxter International* (Deerfield, Illinois);
18. Edwards Lifesciences* (Irvine, California);
19. Cigna* (Bloomfield, Connecticut);
20. Philips Healthcare* (Andover, Massachusetts);
21. Cerner* (Kansas City, Missouri);
22. Smith & Nephew* (London, United Kingdom);
23. Quest Diagnostics* (Secaucus, New Jersey);
24. Novo Nordisk* (Bagsværd, Denmark);
25. Henry Schein* (Melville, New York);
26. BlueCross & BlueShield of South Carolina* (Columbia, South Carolina);
27. Sanofi* (Paris, France);
28. UnitedHealth Group* (Minnetonka, Minnesota); and
29. Cardinal Health* (Dublin, Ohio).

*Denotes Advisory Board member 

According to Forbes, Trader Joe's, based in Monrovia, California, ranked No. 1 on the "Best Large Employers" list.

The best midsize health care employers

Eighteen health care organizations—including 14 Advisory Board members—made the list of midsize "health care and social" employers, including:

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1. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Wisconsin);
2. AARP* (Washington, D.C.);
3. Froedtert Health* (Milwaukee);
4. Covenant HealthCare* (Saginaw, Michigan);
5. Rush Health* (Chicago);
6. The Nemours Foundation* (Jacksonville, Florida);
7. Southeast Health* (Dothan, Alabama);
8. Appalachian Regional Healthcare System* (Boone, North Carolina);
9. All Children's Hospital* (St. Petersburg, Florida);
10. Good Samaritan Society* (Sioux Falls, South Dakota);
11. Doctors Community Hospital* (Lanham, Maryland);
12. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago* (Chicago);
13. Mercy Medical Center* (Baltimore);
14. AHRC New York City (New York);
15. Advanced Health Care (Fruitland, Idaho);
16. Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center* (Bangor, Maine);
17. Alabama Department of Public Health (Montgomery, Alabama); and
18. Excela Health* (Greensburg, Pennsylvania).

*Denotes Advisory Board member

In addition, nine drug and biotech companies, 18 health care equipment and service companies, and eight health insurers made the best midsize employer list, including 12 Advisory Board members across the categories:

1. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Arkansas* (Little Rock, Arkansas);
2. Teleflex* (Wayne, Pennsylvania);
3. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals* (Tarrytown, New York);
4. Intuitive Surgical* (Sunnyvale, California);
5. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina* (Durham, North Carolina);
6. Hologic* (Marlborough, Massachusetts);
7. Cambia Health Solutions* (Portland, Oregon);
8. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions* (Plaza, Illinois);
9. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Massachusetts* (Boston);
10. GEHA* (Lee's Summit, Missouri);
11. Terumo* (Tokyo, Japan); and
12. ACELITY* (San Antonio, Texas).

*Denotes Advisory Board member

According to Forbes, TripAdvisor, based in Needham, Massachusetts, ranked No. 1 on the "Best Midsize Employers" list (Valet, Forbes, 4/17; Forbes, "America's Best Large Employers," 4/17; Forbes, "America's Best Midsize Employers," 4/17).

Just updated: Get 1-page cheat sheets on how "best places to work" organizations are chosen

Is your organization recognized as a "best place to work?" If not, you could be missing an important tool to recruit new employees—and a big opportunity to spotlight your employee engagement work with current staff. Download our cheat sheets to learn exactly how influential publications decide who makes the cut (and who doesn't):

• Forbes' List of "America's Best Employers"
• Fortune's "Best Workplaces in Health Care and Biopharma"
• Glassdoor's "Best Places to Work: Employees' Choice"
• Modern Healthcare's "Best Places to Work in Healthcare"

Get all the Cheat Sheets