Hospital quality may be in the eye of the beholder, or at least of the hospital ranking system. The 2026 Lown Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility reveals that typically top-performing hospitals fall short in health equity.
Indeed, of the 123 hospitals that Lown recognized as top-performers in social responsibility, only two are also recognized as leading hospitals on the U.S. News Honor Roll. This dichotomy could tell the tale of two hospital ranking systems, one that highlights social responsibility as part of outcomes and another that focuses only on clinical measures.
Lown's Index, published annually, evaluates hospitals on more than 50 metrics related to health equity, value and outcomes. This year, Lown evaluated 2,718 acute care hospitals and recognized 123 as being on the Honor Roll, meaning they received A grades in the equity, value and outcomes measure domains.
These findings come as the industry's focus on health equity and social responsibility shifts. While health equity was once a key priority for many of the nation's hospitals and health systems, financial and federal pressures have put the issue generally on the back burner.
According to Vikas Saini, M.D., the president of the Lown Institute, the choice between financial performance and health equity need not be binary, and this year's rankings are proof.
"With financial pressures forcing painful choices on many hospitals, those on the Lown Honor Roll have found ways to put their patients and communities first," Vikas Saini, M.D., president of the Lown Institute, said in a press release. "These hospitals are staying true to their mission when it matters most, and in healthcare, that's everything."
This year's top 10 hospitals for social responsibility are:
- Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge (Oak Ridge, Tenn.)
- Stillwater Medical Center (Stillwater, Okla.)
- University Health (San Antonio, Texas)
- Saint Francis Hospital Muskogee (Muskogee, Okla.)
- Adventist Health Portland (Portland, Ore.)
- Christian Hospital Northeast (St. Louis, Mo.)
- LewisGale Hospital Alleghany (Low Moor, Va.)
- St Luke's Hospital - Easton Campus (Easton, Pa.)
- Frick Hospital (Mount Pleasant, Pa.)
- Sentara RMH Medical Center (Harrisonburg, Va.)
Notably, this is Methodist Medical Center's fifth appearance in Lown's social responsibility rankings. It is joined by only three other hospitals, including Baystate Wing Hospital in Massachusetts, Covenant Health Fort Loudon in Tennessee and Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Tennessee.
The Lown Institute also broke down social responsibility ranking by facility type, reporting that 37 of the 900 critical access hospitals in its analysis made the Honor Roll. Meanwhile, 11 of 331 health systems were included in this year's Honor Roll.
Lown's rankings diverge from other leading rankings
As part of its Index for Social Responsibility, the Lown Institute compares its Honor Roll with that published by U.S. News & World Report.
The U.S. News Honor Roll is a well-respected hospital rankings list, but it does not include measures related to health equity or social responsibility. The publication does put out a Health Equity Measures companion to its Honor Roll, but those scores do not factor into the overall rankings.
According to the Lown Institute's analysis, hospitals included in the U.S. News Honor Roll don't tend to perform particularly well in health equity or social responsibility. This year, only two of the U.S. News Honor Roll hospitals were also recognized on the Lown Index's Honor Roll. Those hospitals were the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
While most of the U.S. News Honor Roll hospitals score very well on Lown's index, they fall short in the health equity domain. While these hospitals mostly earn A's and B's in the social responsibility, outcomes and value categories, they score mostly C's and D's on health equity.
Johns Hopkins and Mount Sinai are the only U.S. News Honor Roll hospitals to get an A grade on Lown's health equity measure set. A handful received B grades, including UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights, AdventHealth Orlando, Rush University Medical Center and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Sara Heath is an executive editor at Xtelligent Healthcare Media, where she covers patient engagement, healthcare policy and health IT.
