Dive Brief:

• Sixty-six U.S. hospitals received the highest marks for being socially responsible in an index from the Lown Institute that factors metrics such as patient outcomes, value of care and health equity, the nonpartisan think tank said Tuesday. The top-ranked providers, earning an A, were selected from more than 3,600 institutions.
• Many of the most socially responsible hospitals are located in smaller communities. Measures such as racial inclusivity of patients, employee pay equity and avoidance of unnecessary and potentially harmful procedures were evaluated for the rankings.
• Fifteen of the hospitals that achieved A grades also faced high COVID-19 burdens, defined as having at least 10% of beds filled with COVID-19 patients for 26 weeks or more during the period from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021.

Dive Insight:

The Lown Institute first launched its social responsibility index in 2020, distinguishing itself by drawing attention to how well healthcare organizations serve their patients and communities. The following year, U.S. News & World Report, which publishes an annual list of best hospitals, said it would start to look at health equity criteria as well, though it did not factor those metrics into its rankings last year.

None of the 20 hospitals on the U.S. News Honor Roll made it into the top 100 of Lown’s social responsibility ranking. The U.S. News list includes providers such as the Mayo Clinic, which has secured the top spot for best hospital for the past five years. Others at the top of the U.S. News ranking include Cleveland Clinic, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Lown said most hospitals ranked highly by U.S. News performed well on its outcomes measures but continued to fall short on equity. Just three of 20 U.S. News top hospitals received a grade of C or higher in the equity category.

The Lown Institute evaluates hospitals on 53 metrics under the categories of health equity, value and outcomes. “We believe communities should have high expectations, and the most socially responsible institutions should be lifted up as models for the system,” Lown Institute President Vikas Saini said.

Data for the social responsibility index is derived from Medicare claims, CMS hospital cost reports, IRS 990 forms and other publicly available sources. This year’s report introduces a COVID-19 burden measure for March 2020 through March 2021 for each hospital, but the information does not factor into the hospital social responsibility ranking.

“Hospitals that met the unprecedented challenges of COVID while staying committed to their social mission should be very, very proud,” Saini said.

 Lown’s 20 most socially responsible hospitals are:

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 (Boston) 
5. Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital (Salinas, Calif.) 
6. Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center (Gresham, Ore.)  
7. Banner University Medical Center South Campus (Tucson, Ariz.) 
8. St. Alphonsus Medical Center – Nampa (Nampa, Idaho) 
9. St. Alphonsus Medical Center – Ontario (Ontario, Ore.) 
10. Denver Health & Hospital Authority (Denver) 
11. St. Rose Dominican Hospitals – Rose de Lima (Henderson, Nev.) 
12. Saint Mary Corwin Medical Center (Pueblo, Colo.) 
13. Saint Joseph Berea (Berea, Ky.) 
14. Saint Charles Prineville (Prineville, Ore.) 
15. Metrohealth System (Cleveland) 
16. Stoughton Hospital Association (Stoughton, Wis.) 
17. Sutter Solano Medical Center (Vallejo, Calif.) 
18. Providence Milwaukie Hospital (Milwaukie, Ore.) 
19. North Suburban Medical Center (Thornton, Colo.) 
20. Baystate Wing Hospital (Palmer, Mass.) 

The Lown Institute was founded in 1973 by Nobel Peace Prize winner Bernard Lown, developer of the defibrillator and professor of cardiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.