Healthgrades, an online resource for information on physicians and hospitals, named its list of America's 50 and 100 Best Hospitals for 2016 on Tuesday.
Here are four things to know about Healthgrades' highest distinction and the hospitals that received it this year.
1. Healthgrades selected hospitals for the Best Hospitals Awards by looking at clinical outcome data from 2012 through 2014 for the 32 most common inpatient conditions and procedures, among other data points. Find more information here. Hospitals in the top 100 have all received the Healthgrades Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence consecutively for at least the last three years.
2. Healthgrades' 100 Best Hospitals are not spread evenly throughout the United States: 22 states and the District of Columbia do not boast a hospital in the top 100.
3. Patients receiving care at one of the 100 Best Hospitals are less likely to die in the hospital, according to Healthgrades. The 100 Best Hospitals had an overall 26.5 percent lower risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality rate across 19 procedures and conditions, when compared to all other hospitals.
4. Healthgrades' top hospitals also out-perform their peers in emergency care for conditions like heart attack, stroke, pneumonia and sepsis. More of the Best Hospitals had a Healthgrades five-star rating for treatment of those conditions than all other hospitals — for example, 94 percent of America's 100 Best Hospitals had a five-star rating for treatment of sepsis, compared to just 21 percent of all other hospitals.
"We are pleased to recognize those organizations that have achieved this distinction and urge all consumers to do their homework when selecting a hospital — especially as it relates to emergent conditions — since hospitals do not perform equally," said Evan Marks, Healthgrades' chief strategy officer.