HCA Healthcare Lands 29 Hospitals on Modern Healthcare’s Top 100 List
HCA Healthcare has announced that 29 of its hospitals have earned recognition as top-performing facilities in the 2026 edition of the “100 Top Hospitals,” a prestigious list compiled by Modern Healthcare and powered by Premier. This achievement highlights the organization’s continued emphasis on clinical quality, operational excellence, and patient-centered care across its nationwide network.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Dr. Randy Fagin, senior vice president and chief quality officer at HCA Healthcare, emphasized that the recognition reflects the collective dedication of the organization’s workforce. According to him, the honor is not just a milestone but a validation of the consistent efforts made by physicians, nurses, and healthcare professionals across the system. Their shared commitment to improving patient outcomes and advancing clinical excellence has been instrumental in achieving this recognition.
The “100 Top Hospitals” program is widely regarded as one of the most objective and data-driven assessments in the healthcare industry. Unlike many ranking systems that require hospitals to apply or submit data for evaluation, this program relies entirely on publicly available datasets. These include Medicare Cost Reports, the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) database, and performance data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare platform. By leveraging these comprehensive data sources, the program evaluates hospitals on key performance indicators such as clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience, and financial health.
For the 2026 analysis, researchers assessed approximately 2,540 short-term, acute care, non-federal hospitals across the United States. From this large pool, only the top-performing institutions were selected based on a rigorous, quantitative methodology. This approach ensures that the recognition is both unbiased and reflective of real-world performance across a diverse patient population.
In addition to securing spots on the Top 100 list, seven HCA Healthcare hospitals received the distinguished Everest Award. This honor is reserved for hospitals that not only achieve high performance benchmarks but also demonstrate the fastest and most sustained improvement over a five-year period. The award underscores long-term excellence and the ability to consistently enhance performance across multiple dimensions of care delivery.
HCA Healthcare attributes much of its success to its integrated system of care, which combines advanced technology, extensive data analytics, and standardized clinical protocols. With approximately 47 million patient encounters annually, the organization leverages its scale to generate insights that drive innovation and improve care delivery across its facilities. This vast dataset supports continuous learning and enables the implementation of best practices throughout the network.
One notable example of HCA Healthcare’s clinical achievements is its performance in stroke care. The organization has achieved a median door-to-needle time of just 33 minutes for stroke patients, which is significantly faster—by about 45%—than the national benchmark. This metric is critical, as faster treatment times are directly associated with better patient outcomes in stroke care.
Another area of focus is maternal health. HCA Healthcare has implemented High Risk Obstetrical (OB) Programs designed to improve outcomes for expectant mothers and newborns. In 2025, the organization further strengthened this initiative by integrating its OB Safety Model into facilities with OB hospitalist services. This standardized approach enhances patient safety by enabling rapid clinical responses during obstetric emergencies, ultimately reducing risks and improving care quality.
Patient safety and infection prevention also remain top priorities for the organization. Dedicated teams collaborate closely to minimize preventable harm and strengthen protective measures for patients, visitors, and healthcare workers. By aligning systems, data, and accountability frameworks, HCA Healthcare has improved its ability to identify and mitigate infection-related risks across its facilities.
The hospitals recognized in the 2026 Top 100 list span multiple categories, including academic medical centers, teaching hospitals, and community hospitals of varying sizes. Among the academic medical centers recognized is Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen, Texas.
The teaching hospitals category includes a wide range of facilities such as Corpus Christi Medical Center in Texas, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho, and several Florida-based hospitals including HCA Florida Aventura Hospital, HCA Florida JFK Hospital, HCA Florida Kendall Hospital, HCA Florida Palms West Hospital, and HCA Florida West Hospital. Additional recognized teaching institutions include HCA HealthONE Aurora, HCA HealthONE Rose, and HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge in Colorado; Methodist Hospital in San Antonio; MountainView Hospital and Southern Hills Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas; TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville; and Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
In the large community hospitals category, recognized facilities include Doctors Hospital of Augusta in Georgia, Parkridge Medical Center in Tennessee, St. David’s Medical Center and St. David’s North Austin Medical Center in Texas, and St. Mark’s Hospital in Utah.
Medium community hospitals on the list include Medical City Alliance in Fort Worth, TriStar Horizon Medical Center in Dickson, TriStar StoneCrest Medical Center in Smyrna, and Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville.
Finally, the small community hospitals category features Lakeview Hospital in Utah, LewisGale Hospital Montgomery in Virginia, Lone Peak Hospital in Utah, and Memorial Health Meadows Hospital in Georgia.
This broad representation across hospital types and geographic regions demonstrates HCA Healthcare’s ability to deliver high-quality care consistently, regardless of facility size or location. It also reflects the organization’s commitment to maintaining high standards across its entire network.
Overall, the recognition of 29 hospitals in the 2026 “100 Top Hospitals” list reinforces HCA Healthcare’s position as a leader in the healthcare industry. By focusing on data-driven decision-making, clinical excellence, and continuous improvement, the organization continues to set benchmarks for quality and performance in modern healthcare.
About HCA Healthcare
Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 190 hospitals and approximately 2,500 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 19 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its approximately 47 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives.
