Fortune on Wednesday released its list of the "World's Most Admired Companies" in 2023, recognizing 34 healthcare companies — including several Advisory Board members.

Methodology

For the list, Fortune partnered with global management consulting firm Korn Ferry. Initially, they evaluated 1,500 candidates, including the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue and the international companies included in Fortune's Global 500 database. Then, they narrowed the list down to the highest-revenue companies in 52 industries. The top-rated companies were selected from 645 companies in 27 countries.

To identify the most-admired companies, Korn Ferry asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate organizations within their own industry in nine different areas, including investment value, quality of management and products, social responsibility, and ability to attract talent. To be included in the list, a company's score had to rank among the top half of its industry survey.

In addition, the list named 50 "All-Stars." To identify the 50-most admired companies, Korn Ferry surveyed 3,760 executives, directors, and securities analysts to name the 10 companies they admired most. Respondents were able to choose from a list that consisted of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year's surveys, and those that ranked in the top 20% of their industry. For the "All-Stars" list, respondents could vote for any company in any industry.

The 'Most Admired Companies' in healthcare

Overall, researchers evaluated more than 60 healthcare companies for the most admired list. In total, 34 healthcare companies made the industry rankings,

8. Pfizer* (New York, NY)

22. Johnson & Johnson* (New Brunswick, NJ)

33. CVS Health* (Woonsocket, RI)

43. Danaher* (Washington, DC)

52. Abbott Laboratories* (Abbott Park, IL)

63. AmerisourceBergen* (Chesterbrook, PA)

64. Amgen* (Thousand Oaks, CA)

72. AstraZeneca (Cambridge, UK

91. Boston Scientific* (Marlborough, MA)

92. Bristol Myers Squibb* (New York, NY)

103. Centene* (Saint Louis, MO)

104. Charles River Laboratories International* (Wilmington, MA)

108. Cigna* (Bloomfield, CT)

120. DaVita* (Denver, CO)

136. Elevance Health (Indianapolis, IN)

137. Eli Lilly* (Indianapolis, IN)

139. Encompass Health* (Birmingham, AL)

157. HCA Healthcare (Nashville, TN

159. Henry Schein* (Melville, NY)

166. Humana* (Louisville, KY)

171. IQVIA (Durham, NC)

202. McKesson* (Irving, TX)

203. Medtronic* (Minneapolis, MN)

204. Merck* (Rahway, NJ)

221. Novartis* (Basel, Switzerland)

229. Patterson (Saint Paul, MN)

243. Quest Diagnostics* (Secaucus, NJ)

252. Roche Group (Basel, Switzerland)

259. Select Medical Holdings* (Mechanicsburg, PA)

273. Stryker* (Kalamazoo, MI)

284. Thermo Fisher Scientific* (Waltham, MA)

299. UnitedHealth Group** (Minnetonka, MN)

301. Universal Health Services* (King of Prussia, PA)

309. Walgreens Boots Alliance* (Deerfield, IL)

*Denotes an Advisory Board member

**Advisory Board is a subsidiary of Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group. All Advisory Board research, expert perspectives, and recommendations remain independent.

(Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/2; Fortune, "World's Most Admired Companies" list, 2/1; Fortune, "World's Most Admired Companies" methodology, accessed 2/3)