Healthgrades’ 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award named hundreds of hospitals across the country for strong safety records, spotlighting top performers and the states where they cluster. This piece breaks down who made the list, what the awards measure, and which regions showed the most consistent safety gains.
Healthgrades identified 438 hospitals across 40 states as ranking among the top 10% nationwide for patient safety. The recognition rests on 13 patient safety indicators that track avoidable complications and serious in-hospital errors.
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Five states stood out for having the largest numbers of award recipients: Texas, Florida, California, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Counts ranged from the high twenties to as many as 62 hospitals, a concentration that reflects both performance and the simple fact of scale in large systems and populous states.
“The prevalence of recipients in a particular state could be related to something as simple as that state having a large number of hospitals,” was the assessment offered about why some states dominate the list. Still, the data signal meaningful safety advantages in major metro regions like Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City.
Patients treated in these award-winning hospitals faced much lower odds of common, serious safety events. The differences are stark: patients were 52.4% less likely to suffer an in-hospital fall with fracture and 57.5% less likely to experience a procedure-related collapsed lung at these institutions.
Other key measures also favored top hospitals, with awardees 67.8% less likely to have catheter-related bloodstream infections and 71.9% less likely to develop pressure sores. Healthgrades reports these four indicators alone account for roughly 78% of all patient safety events tracked in the study.
If every hospital matched the performance of this year’s recipients, Healthgrades estimates more than 100,000 patient safety events could have been avoided between 2022 and 2024. “The data behind this year’s Patient Safety Excellence Award highlights how measurable improvements in safety can prevent thousands of complications,” said a medical advisor connected to the program.
“Hospitals that prioritize evidence-based safety practices not only achieve better clinical outcomes, but also cultivate a culture where patients come first,” Biggers added. “These insights give individuals and families the information they need to make confident and better informed healthcare decisions.”
To qualify for the award, hospitals must clear strict clinical thresholds and report zero occurrences of certain serious preventable errors, such as leaving a foreign object behind after a procedure. Overall, 250 hospitals made the top 5% safety tier, including facilities tied to major systems like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and HCA Healthcare.
Ten states and the District of Columbia had no hospitals on the list, a gap experts say often reflects rural hospital shortages and local “care deserts” where patients face long travel times and arrive sicker. Nearly one-third of the recognized hospitals were new to the roster this year, indicating ongoing shifts in safety practices and performance across the country.
Healthgrades publishes the full roster of recipients for those who want to check individual hospitals, and the award adds another data point for patients weighing where to seek care. The recognition highlights areas where measurable, evidence-based practices are reducing harm and setting a higher bar for hospital safety nationwide.
