A hospital in California earned the top spot on the Lown Institute's 2022 list of socially responsible hospitals.
The Lown Institute, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank, released the ranking June 28. The list ranks more than 3,600 U.S. hospitals based on 53 metrics across categories of health equity, value and outcomes. Metrics included racial inclusivity of patients, employee pay equity, and avoidance of unnecessary and potentially harmful procedures. Hospitals with "A" grades on each of the three categories are considered "most socially responsible."
According to the Lown Institute, 15 hospitals out of the 66 most socially responsible hospitals had an extraordinary COVID-19 burden, meaning at least 26 weeks with at least 10 percent of inpatient beds filled by COVID-19 patients during the first year of the pandemic. Additionally, only three of the of the U.S. News & World Report's top honor roll hospitals received grades higher than a "C" on the equity category of metrics, according to the report.
The Lown Institute used publicly available data from Medicare claims, CMS hospital cost reports, IRS 990 forms and other sources for the rankings. COVID burden for the first year of the pandemic is reported for each hospital but does not factor into the hospital social responsibility ranking.
The top 20 hospitals for social responsibility in the U.S., ranked by the Lown Institute:
1. Adventist Health Howard Hospital (Willits, Calif.)
2. Duke Regional Hospital (Durham, N.C.)
3. Tristar Horizon Medical Center (Dickson, Tenn.)
4. Boston Medical Center
5. Salinas (Calif.) Valley Memorial Hospital
6. Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center (Gresham, Ore.)
7. Banner-University Medical Center South (Tucson, Ariz.)
8. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Nampa (Idaho)
9. Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario (Ore.)
10. Denver Health Medical Center
11. St. Rose Dominican Hospitals-Rose de Lima (Henderson, Nev.)
12. St. Mary-Corwin Hospital (Pueblo, Colo.)
13. Saint Joseph Berea (Ky.)
14. St. Charles Prineville (Ore.)
15. MetroHealth System (Cleveland)
16. Stoughton (Wis.) Hospital
17. Sutter Solano Medical Center (Vallejo, Calif.)
18. Providence Milwaukie (Ore.) Hospital
19. North Suburban Medical Center (Thornton, Colo.)
20. Baystate Wing Hospital (Palmer, Mass.)
To learn more about the methodology, click here.