Details on the awards

For the 2025 Specialty Excellence Awards, Healthgrades evaluated U.S. hospitals' performances and assessed the clinical outcomes of 31 procedures and conditions across 16 specialty care areas, including:

• Cardiac care
• Cardiac surgery
• Coronary intervention
• Cranial neurosurgery
• Critical care
• Gastrointestinal care
• Gastrointestinal surgery
• Joint replacement
• Neurosciences
• Orthopedic surgery
• Prostate surgery
• Pulmonary care
• Spine surgery
• Stroke care
• Surgical care
• Vascular surgery

Hospitals were then awarded between one and five stars to signify their performance. To measure performance, Healthgrades used Medicare inpatient data from the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review file provided by CMS for years 2021 through 2023.

According to Healthgrades, hospitals that received:

• One star performed "worse than expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was worse than predicted and the difference was statistically significant."
• Three stars performed "as expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was not statistically significantly different from what was predicted."
• Five stars performed "better than expected," meaning their "[a]ctual performance was better than predicted and the difference was statistically significant."

To access the list of Specialty Excellence Award recipients and see if your hospital was among them, click here.

Healthgrades also ranked the top three or five eligible hospitals across 18 specialties — including the same 16 specialties as the Specialty Excellence Awards as well as cardiology and gastrointestinal medical — aiming at helping "consumers find and select a local hospital that excels in their condition or procedure, taking the guesswork out of finding high quality care close to home."

Key insights

According to Healthgrades, the gap between top performers and one-star hospitals has continued to grow over the years.

Healthgrades found that, between 2021 and 2023, if all hospitals had performed that the level of five-star recipients, 224,958 lives could potentially have been saved and 141,692 complications could potentially have been avoided.

"Our specialty awards highlight top-performing hospitals across medical specialties, empowering consumers to find high quality care for their unique needs," said Brad Bowman, CMO and head of data science at Healthgrades. "Doing your research ahead of time and understanding where you can find high quality care can positively impact your healthcare journey and overall experience." (Healthgrades press release, 10/22; Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards, accessed 10/22; Healthgrades Specialty Excellence Awards methodology, accessed 10/22; Healthgrades State Rankings Awards, accessed 10/22)

Post-pandemic, specialty care has evolved in many important ways. Emerging market forces, innovations, and disruptions are reshaping key specialties, while some historical trends have taken on new importance.

Download our market insights reports below to learn about key drivers reshaping the delivery of specialty care and the expected impacts of these drivers on cross-industry strategy.