Tessa Quinn
With the growing availability of large data groups to the public, consumers can now gain a better insight into the practices and outcomes of healthcare providers. Databases like ProPublica's Surgeon Scorecard and SurgeonRatings.org allow patients to search for complication rates for various surgical procedures by individual physicians. Separately, U.S. News provides rankings for the best hospitals by state, specialty, and other factors, helping patients understand how well hospitals stand up to scrutiny in commonly encountered procedures and conditions. The Leapfrog Group also provides free patient safety data, ranking states based on the percentage of A hospitals. These resources help patients make more informed decisions about their healthcare.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Hospital Ranking Sources | U.S. News & World Report, Leapfrog Group, SurgeonRatings.org, ProPublica |
| Ranking Factors | Specialties, Procedures and Conditions, Patient Safety Data, Surgeon Success Rates |
| Ranking Use Cases | Identifying hospitals for rare conditions, choosing a physician, understanding hospital safety |
| Data Sources | Medicare billing records, hospital readmissions, patient surveys |
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What You'll Learn
Surgeon complication rates
In 2015, two new websites were launched that allow patients to compare surgeons based on complication rates and patient outcomes. The first, www.surgeonratings.org, is released by the nonprofit Consumers' Checkbook/Center for the Study of Services. The site lists surgeons who have had better-than-average outcomes based on an analysis of over four million surgeries conducted by 50,000 surgeons. The ratings take into account how often a surgeon's patients die in the hospital or within 90 days of discharge, experience serious complications, or are readmitted to the hospital within 90 days of discharge. The site allows patients to search by ZIP code for the top-performing surgeons in 14 high-risk surgeries, including heart valve and bypass surgery, and total knee and hip replacement.
The second website, Surgeon Scorecard by ProPublica, includes surgeons with higher-than-average complications based on infections, clots, or infections that require post-operative care. ProPublica calculated death and complication rates for surgeons performing one of eight elective procedures in Medicare, adjusting for differences in patient health, age, and hospital quality. The database was last updated in July 2015 and is based on data from 2009 to 2013. It should be used as a historical snapshot.
While the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid releases data about hospitals’ overall performance, they haven’t required hospitals to track death rates and complications by doctor. However, experts argue that there should be more emphasis on the role of individual practitioners in patient safety. Surgeon Scorecard helps shed light on this area, with an analysis of death and complication rates for nearly 17,000 U.S. surgeons for eight common surgical procedures. This is the first time this information has been available to the public.
It's important to note that complications are common in hospitalized surgical patients, and provider error contributes to a significant proportion of these. The availability of surgeon complication rates can help improve accountability and reduce preventable medical errors.
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Hospital safety grades
The Leapfrog Group, an independent national nonprofit organisation, provides free, publicly available patient safety data to help patients make informed decisions about their care. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital rating focused exclusively on hospital safety. Its A, B, C, D or F letter grades are a quick way for consumers to choose the safest hospital to seek care. The Safety Grade provides critical information on how likely patients are to experience accidents, injuries, errors or harm while in the hospital. The Leapfrog Group has, for more than 20 years, collected, analysed, and published hospital data on safety and quality in order to push the health care industry forward. Their bold transparency has promoted high-value care and informed health care decisions, triggering giant leaps forward in the safety, quality, and affordability of healthcare.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade was launched in 2012 and assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents and infections. It is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harm to patients. It is fully transparent and free to the public, and grades are updated biannually in the fall and spring. The Leapfrog Group's Spring 2025 Safety Grades show that one in eight hospitals sustained an “A” for more than two years.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is determined by public, peer-reviewed methodology, calculated by top patient safety experts under the guidance of a National Expert Panel. The grading system is fully transparent and always freely available to the public at www.hospitalsafetygrade.org. The Leapfrog Group was founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, celebrating 25 years of driving a movement for giant leaps in patient safety.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is an important tool for consumers to make informed decisions about their healthcare. By consulting the Safety Grades, individuals can choose the safest hospital to seek care and protect themselves from potential harm. The easy-to-understand letter grade rating system makes it convenient for consumers to quickly assess the safety performance of different hospitals. This information can be accessed on the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade website, where users can search for the safety grade of their local hospital. Additionally, individuals can stay connected with the Leapfrog Group through social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and sign up for their newsletter to receive the latest updates and insights into hospital safety.
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Surgeon ratings
- Surgeon Ratings Websites: Nonprofit organizations have developed websites that provide ratings and comparisons of surgeons. Sites like SurgeonRatings.org and ProPublica's Surgeon Scorecard offer evaluations of surgeons based on complication rates, patient outcomes, and surgical success rates. SurgeonRatings.org, for instance, focuses on surgeons with higher success rates and considers factors such as patient deaths, serious complications, and readmissions.
- Data Sources and Methodology: These surgeon rating platforms utilize various data sources and methodologies. For example, Surgeon Scorecard analyzes Medicare billing records and considers in-hospital mortality and readmission rates within 30 days of discharge for common elective procedures. ProPublica's database evaluates surgeons' performance on their best and worst days, considering hospital readmissions and surgeon mistakes.
- Exclusion Criteria: It's important to note that these rating systems have specific exclusion criteria. For instance, emergency cases, high-risk patients, and readmissions unrelated to surgical complications may be excluded from the calculations to ensure fairness and accuracy in assessing surgeon performance.
- Patient Safety and Transparency: The primary goal of surgeon ratings is to enhance patient safety and transparency. By making this information available, patients can make more informed choices about their surgical care. This also encourages accountability among healthcare providers and can help reduce preventable medical errors and improve the overall quality of care.
- Limitations and Improvements: While surgeon rating systems offer valuable insights, they also have limitations. Some platforms acknowledge that they provide information with limitations, and they welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement from physicians and healthcare professionals. It's important for users to consider the context and potential limitations when interpreting surgeon ratings.
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Hospital rankings and ratings
The evaluation is based on 12 medical specialties and 20 unique surgical procedures or treatments. Each hospital is scored from 0 to 100, factoring in outcomes (such as survival rates and discharge), expert opinions from physician surveys, and the prevention of outpatient procedural complications. The hospitals with the 50 highest scores in each specialty are then ranked.
U.S. News also publishes regional rankings, recognizing Best Regional Hospitals in 48 states, 92 metro areas, and Puerto Rico. These hospitals offer a full range of general medical and surgical services and are either nationally ranked in one of the 11 data-driven specialties or have multiple ratings of high performance in procedures and conditions.
In addition to U.S. News, The Leapfrog Group is another source of hospital rankings and safety grades. For over 20 years, Leapfrog has collected, analyzed, and published hospital data on safety and quality. Their Spring 2025 Safety Grades show that one in eight hospitals has sustained an "A" rating for more than two years. States are ranked based on the percentage of "A" hospitals they have.
By consulting these hospital rankings and ratings, patients can gain valuable insights into the quality and safety of care provided by different hospitals. This information can guide patients in making critical health decisions, especially when facing complex or rare medical conditions.
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Pediatric specialty rankings
U.S. News ranks the top hospitals by specialty for children. The rankings are based on hospital-submitted data, including measurements such as patient outcomes, available clinical resources, compliance with best practices, and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The rankings also factor in each specialty's reputation, as assessed by thousands of pediatric specialists.
The 11 pediatric specialties that are ranked by U.S. News are:
- Cancer
- Cardiology and heart surgery
- Diabetes and endocrinology
- Gastroenterology and gastrointestinal surgery
- Neonatology
- Nephrology
- Neurology and neurosurgery
- Orthopedics
- Pulmonology and lung surgery
- Urology
- Pediatric and adolescent behavioral health
The University of Iowa Health Care Stead Family Children's Hospital is included in nine pediatric specialties in the 2024-25 rankings. It is the only nationally ranked children's hospital in Iowa and is ranked 11th in the Midwest region.
Seattle Children's is the top-ranked pediatric hospital in Washington and the Pacific Northwest and is tied for first place in the Pacific Region. It is nationally ranked for all 11 of the individual specialty areas that U.S. News evaluates.
The 2024-2025 rankings also saw 50 hospitals ranked for pediatric neurosurgery care and treatment of serious neurological problems such as epilepsy, head trauma, and brain tumors. Hospitals were evaluated on metrics such as survival following complex surgery, surgical complications, and infection prevention.
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Frequently asked questions
You can look up hospital complication rates through the Leapfrog Group, SurgeonRatings.org, ProPublica, and U.S. News & World Report.
The Leapfrog Group has, for over 20 years, collected, analysed, and published hospital data on safety and quality. They provide free, publicly available patient safety data to help patients make informed decisions about their care.
ProPublica is an investigative news organisation that has analysed other aspects of medical practice. They created a Surgeon Scorecard with complication rates for almost 17,000 surgeons, based on Medicare billing records.
U.S. News & World Report ranks the best hospitals by state, specialty, and more. They award Honor Roll points to hospitals that rank highly in the specialties they evaluate.
