Santa Cruz County Snubbed In Best Hospitals Ranking

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — The health care information company Healthgrades recently released its latest rankings of the best hospitals in the United States. In California, 48 hospitals were named as part of the 250 hospitals listed, but no Santa Cruz County facilities made the cut.

Several NorCal hospitals, however, were ranked among the top in the nation.

Healthgrades said in a release about the 2020 rankings that patients treated in hospitals on its list have a 26.6 percent lower chance of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that weren't named to the rankings.

Healthgrades evaluated hospital performance through 32 procedures and conditions. To be eligible for the list, a hospital must have successful evaluations in at least 21 of the procedures and conditions.

The procedures and conditions evaluated by Healthgrades included treatment of heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke.

After identifying eligible hospitals, Healthgrades used a series of steps to compile the list of the top 250 hospitals in the nation. You can read the full methodology for the rankings here.

Here are the California hospitals ranked among the best in the nation.
Top 50:

• Cedars - Sinai Medical Center, West Hollywood
• Eden Medical Center, Castro Valley
• Hoag Hospital Newport Beach, Newport Beach
• Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center, Baldwin Park
• Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, San Jose
• Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, Woodland Hills
• Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, Burlingame
  • Including: Mills Health Center, San Mateo
• Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Northridge
• Providence Holy Cross Medical Center, Mission Hills
• Providence Tarzana Medical Center, Tarzana
• Scripps Green Hospital, La Jolla
• Sutter Roseville Medical Center, Roseville

Top 100:

• Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, Oakland
  • Including: Kaiser Permanente Richmond Medical Center, Richmond
• Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center, Redwood City
• Kaiser Permanente San Rafael Medical Center, San Rafael
• Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, Santa Clara
• Memorial Medical Center, Modesto
• Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank
• Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
• Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford
• UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, Santa Monica

Top 250:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center - Alta Bates Camp, Berkeley
• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center - Summit, Oakland
• Kaiser Permanente Orange County - Anaheim Medical Center, Anaheim
  • Including: Kaiser Permanente Orange County – Irvine Medical Center, Irvine
• Kaiser Permanente Sacramento Medical Center, Sacramento
• Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center, San Leandro
• Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia
• Methodist Hospital of Southern California, Arcadia
• Mission Hospital - Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo
  • Including: Mission Hospital - Laguna Beach, Laguna Beach
• Palomar Medical Center Escondido, Escondido
  • Including: Palomar Medical Center Downtown Escondido, Escondido
• Queen Of The Valley Medical Center, Napa
• Saint Joseph Hospital, Orange
• Saint Mary Medical Center, Apple Valley
• Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, Encinitas
• Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, La Jolla
• Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, San Diego
  • Including:
  • Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista, Chula Vista
  • St. John's Regional Medical Center, Oxnard
  • St. Jude Medical Center, Fullerton
• UC Davis Medical Center, Sacramento
• UCSD Medical Center - Hillcrest, San Diego
• UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus, San Francisco
  • Including: UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, San Francisco

The hospitals listed above are organized alphabetically and are not ranked in any particular order.

Healthgrades' complete list of the top 250 hospitals is also organized by state and not ranked in any order.

"Sustaining a high level of care is challenging and requires a hospital-wide commitment and a 'patient-first' culture. We applaud these elite hospitals on being recognized as the best in the nation," said Brad Bowman, the chief medical officer at Healthgrades, in a news release. "With increasing awareness on the importance of hospital quality, this information is a vital resource for consumers when it comes to selecting a hospital for their specific care needs."

Healthgrades' mission is to "help patients find and connect with the right doctor or hospital," according to its website. The organization says it collects its data from a variety of sources including the National Provider Registry, which is a government directory of all active health care providers in the United States.
Additionally, Healthgrades pulls information from patient surveys, data from government sources and data that comes directly from providers or practices.

You can see the full list of the top 50, 100 and 250 hospitals from Healthgrades on its website.