Familiar hospitals dominated the latest “Best Hospitals” rankings from U.S. News & World Report, which also rolled out several changes this year.
There were a couple of newcomers to the 2026-2027 Honor Roll, which for 4 years now, has been ranked alphabetically instead of ordinally. Mayo Clinic–Florida in Jacksonville joined its counterparts in Minnesota and Arizona on the list, and UC San Diego Health made a return after being absent last year.
U.S. News made some changes to the rankings this year, notably by increasing the statistical weight of risk-adjusted patient outcome measures like survival and complication rates, as well as four new regional specialty rankings in cancer; cardiology, heart and vascular surgery; orthopedics; and rehabilitation.
“For nearly four decades, U.S. News has helped families and their medical providers navigate complex healthcare decisions,” Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, said in a statement. “Because most patients choose providers close to home, this year’s debut of regional specialty rankings … gives them an easy new way to evaluate their local options in consultation with their medical providers.”
In recent years, U.S. News has continued to make updates and changes to its “Best Hospitals” rankings after a 2023 shakeup around several rankings, including those for hospitals and medical schools.
For this year’s rankings, U.S. News evaluated nearly 4,500 hospitals across 14 adult specialties and 23 procedures and conditions. Only 16% earned a “Best Hospitals” designation, the outlet noted, adding that these hospitals “excelled at factors such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications, and patient experience.”
Data used to determine the “Best Hospitals” rankings, including the Honor Roll, came from CMS, professional organizations, medical specialists, and other sources, U.S. News noted.
Ultimately, this year’s Honor Roll consisted of 20 hospitals that earned the most points out of a possible total of 566, the outlet stated. For the 2026-2027 list, hospitals that earned 307 points or more were recognized.
This year’s top-performing Honor Roll is listed below, and full rankings, including for specialties as well as regions, are available here.
Best Hospitals Honor Roll 2026-2027
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
Cleveland Clinic
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Houston Methodist Hospital
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
Mayo Clinic-Arizona, Phoenix
Mayo Clinic-Florida, Jacksonville
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell, New York City
Northwestern Medicine-Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
NYU Langone Hospitals, New York City
Rush University Medical Center, Chicago
Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, California
UC San Diego Health-La Jolla, Hillcrest, and East Campus Medical Centers
UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, Los Angeles
UCSF Health-UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
University of Michigan Health-Ann Arbor