About the list

To qualify for the list, hospitals needed to meet the criteria to qualify for U.S. News' 2023-2024 Best Regional Hospitals list.

The hospitals also had to meet at least two of the following three criteria:

• At least 40% of Medicare inpatient visits involved patients living in more socioeconomically deprived neighborhoods, defined by using Area Deprivation Index data from Neighborhood Atlas.
• At least 20% of the hospital's patients were insured by Medicaid or the hospital achieved the highest category ("Higher than other hospitals") on U.S. News' Health Equity measure "representation of low-income patients."
• At least 20% of the hospital's Medicare inpatients who received elective care were from racial or ethnic minorities, or the hospital treated a nontrivial Medicare population from one or more of five racial or ethnic minority groups and also achieved the highest category. ("Comparable to or higher than the community") for the corresponding race or ethnicity representation measure that U.S. News publishes in its Health Equity measures.

The 'Best Regional Hospitals for Equitable Access'

The 53 hospitals that made the list include:

• Adventist Health-White Memorial (Los Angeles, CA)
• Advocate Trinity Hospital (Chicago, IL)
• Altru Health System-Grand Forks (Grand Forks, ND)
• Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center (Medford, OR)
• Ascension St. Agnes Hospital (Baltimore, MD)
• Ascension St. John Hospital (Detroit, MI)
• Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix (Phoenix, AZ)
• Banner-University Medical Center Tucson (Tucson, AZ)
• Barnes-Jewish Hospital (St. Louis, MO)
• Cape Fear Valley Medical Center (Fayetteville, NC)
• Carle Foundation Hospital (Urbana, IL)
• Christian Hospital (St. Louis, MO)
•  Cooper University Health Care-Camden (Camden, NJ)
• Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital (Dearborn, MI)
• ECU Health Medical Center (Greenville, NC)
• Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center (Wilkes-Barre, PA)
• Grady Memorial Hospital (Atlanta, GA)
• Grand Strand Regional Medical Center (Myrtle Beach, SC)
• Henry Ford Hospital (Detroit, MI)
• Hillcrest Medical Center (Tulsa, OK)
• Inova Fairfax Hospital (Falls Church, VA)
• Jefferson Health-Stratford, Cherry Hill and Washington Township (Stratford, NJ)
• Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center (Baltimore, MD)
• JPS Health Network-Fort Worth (Fort Worth, TX)
• Kaiser Permanente Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers (Fontana, CA)
• Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center (Sacramento, CA)
• Lexington Medical Center (West Columbia, SC)
• Loma Linda University Medical Center (Loma Linda, CA)
• McLeod Regional Medical Center (Florence, SC)
• MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center (Clinton, MD)
• Mercy Hospital Springfield (Springfield, MO)
• Mercy San Juan Medical Center (Carmichael, CA)
• Methodist Hospitals of Memphis (Memphis, TN)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital (Greensboro, NC)
• NYC Health and Hospitals-Elmhurst (Elmhurst, NY)
• Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center (Lafayette, LA)
• Parkland Health-Dallas (Dallas, TX)
• Providence Alaska Medical Center (Anchorage, AK)
• Providence St. Mary Medical Center (Apple Valley, CA)
• St. Francis Hospital-Tulsa (Tulsa, OK)
• St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center (Hartford, CT)
• Salem Hospital (Salem, OR)
• Sanford Medical Center Bismarck (Bismarck, ND)
• Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center (Chula Vista, CA)
• TMC Healthcare-Tucson (Tucson, AZ)
• UAMS Medical Center (Little Rock, AR)
• UCHealth Memorial Hospital (Colorado Springs, CO)
• UF Health Jacksonville (Jacksonville, FL)
• UMass Memorial Medical Center (Worcester, MA)
• University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital (Birmingham, AL)
• UNC Hospitals (Chapel Hill, NC)
• UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Yale-New Haven Hospital (New Haven, CT)

U.S. News found that California had the greatest number of hospitals featured on the list with seven, followed by North Carolina with four.

In addition, five cities had more than one hospital featured on the list:

• Baltimore, MD
• Detroit, MI
• St. Louis, MO
• Tucson, AZ
• Tulsa, OK

Discussion

A recent study published in the American Journal of Surgery found that patients treated at top-ranked hospitals had fewer complications and better odds of survival than patients treated elsewhere.

In addition, the study found that "patients residing in extreme [persistent poverty] experienced the greatest reduction in odds of mortality and morbidity when receiving care at a top-ranked hospital."

According to Tavia Binger, senior health data analyst at U.S. News, the list "highlights the important and necessary work hospitals are doing to improve care for underserved communities. This positive representation of community hospitals' dedication to equitable access across 26 states is promising. However, this recognition also underscores the need for continued focus on prioritizing health care among vulnerable populations who may face numerous social and economic challenges in receiving care."

The hospitals on the list "demonstrate by their example that a hospital can both excel in overall quality of care and also provide a substantial amount of that exceptional care to historically underserved communities," said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. "Recognizing community hospitals that lead in this respect is a modest but necessary step toward ensuring everyone in the U.S. has access to high-quality medical care." (U.S. News & World Report release, 6/5; Binger et. al., U.S. News & World Report, 6/5)

Learn how to measure health equity so you can set principled priorities, instill accountability, and meet emerging expectations from other stakeholders.