Forbes on Wednesday released its rankings of "America's Best Large Employers" and "America's Best Midsize Employers" for 2023.

About the rankings

For the rankings, Forbes worked with market research firm Statista to cull data from surveys of 45,000 U.S. employees working for businesses with at least 1,000 workers. 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. Respondents were also asked to nominate companies other than their own. 

The final "Best Large Employers" — organizations with more than 5,000 employees — and "Best Midsize Employers" — organizations with 1,000 to 5,000 employees — lists each feature 500 companies. The lists include healthcare employers across several categories, including "health care and social," "drugs and biotechnology," "health care equipment and services," and "insurance."

The best large healthcare employers

Thirty-five organizations — including 26 Advisory Board members — made the list of large "health care and social" employers, including:

2. Houston Methodist* (Houston, TX)

3. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)

10. Cincinnati Children's (Cincinnati, OH)

14. Northwestern Medicine* (Chicago, IL)

19. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center* (Dallas, TX)

20. Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore, MD)

21. UCLA Health* (Los Angeles, CA)

22. Nationwide Children's Hospital* (Columbus, OH)

24. Community Health Network* (Indianapolis, IN)

30. Penn Medicine* (Philadelphia, PA)

41. Duke University Health System* (Durham, NC)

45. Emory Healthcare (Atlanta, GA)

48. MUSC Health* (Charleston, SC)

50. New York-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY)

54. The University of Kansas Health System* (Kansas City, KS)

68. Legacy Health* (Portland, OR)

71. Vanderbilt University Medical Center* (Nashville, TN)

75. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY)

81. University Hospitals* (Cleveland, OH)

89. UNC Health Care* (Chapel Hill, NC)

91. BJC HealthCare* (Saint Louis, MO)

94. Mass General Brigham* (Boston, MA)

98. Cleveland Clinic* (Cleveland, OH)

104. Norton Healthcare (Louisville, KY)

108. UCHealth* (Aurora, CO)

119. Deaconess Health System* (Evansville, IN)

125. BayCare (Clearwater, FL)

127. Baptist Health* (Louisville, KY)

133. Aya Healthcare (San Diego, CA)

134. Moffitt Cancer Center* (Tampa, FL)

138. Kettering Health Network* (Kettering, OH)

145. WVU Medicine West Virginia University Health System* (Morgantown, WV)

158. The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia* (Philadelphia, PA)

159. Health First* (Rockledge, FL)

163. CommonSpirit Health* (Chicago, IL)

In addition, 16 drug and biotech companies, 17 healthcare equipment and service companies, and 12 insurers made the best large employers list.

In total, 20 Advisory Board members were recognized across the categories:

Drugs and Biotechnology:

58. Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA)

88. Roche Holding (Fishers, IN)

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

116. Genentech* (South San Francisco, CA)

126. Merck & Co.* (Rahway, NJ)

128. Lilly* (Indianapolis, IN)

129. AbbVie* (North Chicago, IL)

152. Pfizer* (New York, NY)

157. Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, MA)

176. GlaxoSmithKline* (Philadelphia, PA)

265. CSL (King of Prussia, PA)

281. Novartis* (East Hanover, NJ)

297. AstraZeneca (Wilmington, DE)

343. Bayer (Whippany, NJ)

362. Catalent (Somerset, NJ)

426. ICON (North Wales, PA)

Healthcare equipment and services:

31. Stryker* (Kalamazoo, MI)

160. Boston Scientific (Marlborough, MA)

164. McKesson (Irving, TX)

189. Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH)

258. Medtronic* (Minneapolis, MN)

260. Medline Industries* (Northfield, IL)

264. Abbott Laboratories (Chicago, IL)

352. Molina Healthcare (Long Beach, CA)

370. Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, NJ)

401. Baxter International (Deerfield, IL)

404. Cerner (Kansas City, MO)

414. Gainwell Technologies (Conway, AR)

433. Quest Diagnostics* (Secaucus, NJ)

445. Ciox Health (Alpharetta, GA)

470. Philips* (Andover, MA)

474. Bausch Health Companies (Bridgewater, NJ)

484. Labcorp (Burlington, NC)

Health insurance:

4. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee* (Chattanooga, TN)

114. Humana* (Louisville, KY)

136. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Michigan* (Detroit, MI)

195. UnitedHealth Group** (Minnetonka, MN)

242. Cigna* (Bloomfield, CT)

244. Health Care Service Corporation (Chicago, IL)

279. Chubb (Warren, NJ)

301. BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina* (Columbia, SC)

337. Highmark Health* (Pittsburgh, PA)

359. Elevance Health (Indianapolis, IN)

455. Centene (Saint Louis, MO)

500. Unum (Chattanooga, TN)

*Denotes 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.

The best midsize healthcare employers

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

7. University of Tennessee Medical Center* (Knoxville, TN)

59. AARP* (Washington, DC)

125. Ronald McDonald House Charities (Oak Brook, IL)

148. North Kansas City Hospital* (Kansas City, MO)

181. Children's Wisconsin* (Milwaukee, WI)

185. Mosaic Life Care* (Saint Joseph, MO)

215. Covenant HealthCare* (Saginaw, MI)

221. Self Regional Healthcare* (Greenwood, SC)

233. Evangelical Community Hospital* (Lewisburg, PA)

234. Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute* (Fort Meyers, FL)

240. University Health, Kansas City (Kansas City, MO)

242. Reid Health* (Richmond, IN)

243. One Medical (San Francisco, CA)

246. Mercy Medical Center* (Glen Burnie, MD)

268. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago* (Chicago, IL)

269. UMC Health System* (Lubbock, TX)

276. Concord Hospital* (Concord, NH)

282. At Home Healthcare* (Tyler, TX)

331. Berkshire Health Systems* (Pittsfield, MA)

349. East Tennessee Children's Hospital* (Knoxville, TN)

359. Bellin Health* (Green Bay, WI)

374. Riverside Healthcare* (Kankakee, IL)

433. Arnot Health* (Elmira, NY)

442. American Heart Association* (Dallas, TX)

457. Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (Des Plaines, IL)

500. Athletico (Oak Brook, IL)

Six drug and biotech companies, 17 healthcare equipment and service companies, and 21 insurers made the best midsize employer list. In total, 22 Advisory Board members were recognized across the categories:

Drugs and Biotechnology:

173. Jackson Laboratory* (Bar Harbor, ME)

259. Mallinckrodt* (Bedminster, NJ)

266. Bio-Techne (Minneapolis, MN)

354. Vertex Pharmaceuticals* (Boston, MA)

443. Plastipak Packaging* (Plymouth, MI)

488. Octapharma Plasma* (Charlotte, NC)

Healthcare equipment and services:

4. DexCom* (San Diego, CA)

14. Hologic* (Marlborough, MA)

46. Teladoc Health (Purchase, NY)

51. Arthrex* (Naples, FL)

55. GEHA* (Lees Summit, MO)

167. CareCentrix* (Hartford, CT)

249. Teleflex* (Wayne, PA)

283. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions* (Chicago, IL)

300. Beltone (Glenview, IL)

332. ScribeAmerica (Fort Lauderdale, FL)

389. DentaQuest (Boston, MA)

390. Ansell* (Iselin, NJ)

392. Alverno Laboratories (Hammond, IN)

428. Meditech* (Canton, MA)

462. TriWest Healthcare Alliance* (Phoenix, AZ)

473. Nextgen Healthcare (Atlanta, GA)

490. Terumo* (Somerset, NJ)

Health insurers:

2. Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (Rochester, NY)

17. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina* (Durham, NC)

33. Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Little Rock, AR)

44. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama (Birmingham, AL)

56. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana (Baton Rouge, LA)

57. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey* (Newark, NJ)

76. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Boston, MA)

89. Premera Blue Cross (Terrace, WA)

93. HealthNow New York (Buffalo, NY)

99. Healthfirst (New York, NY)

129. Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield* (Des Moines, IA)

133. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska (Omaha, NE)

151. Oscar Health (New York, NY)

177. Tufts Health Plan (Canton, MA)

235. Prime Therapeutics (Eagan, MN)

237. Capital Blue Cross (Enola, PA)

299. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota (Eagan, MN)

319. Medical Mutual of Ohio* (Cleveland, OH)

327. Medica* (Minnetonka, MN)

387. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (Topeka, KS)

468. WPS Health Solutions* (Madison, WI)

*Denotes Advisory Board member

(Gooch, Becker's Hospital Review, 2/15; Schwarz, Forbes, 2/15 [1]; Schwarz, Forbes, 2/15 [2]; Peachman, Forbes, 2/15 [1]; Peachman, Forbes, 2/15 [2])