4 MN Hospitals Ranked In Top 10% For Patient Safety

Four hospitals in Minnesota were among hundreds across the country recognized for safety and patient experience in a new report.

Healthgrades, an online platform that helps people find and compare doctors, specialists and hospitals, announced Tuesday that 438 hospitals in 40 states met the criteria for its 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award. They represent the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide for patient safety.

From Minnesota, they are:

• M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital, Burnsville
• Mayo Clinic Hospital and Clinic Albert Lea, Albert Lea
• Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, Bemidji
• River's Edge Hospital and Clinic, Saint Peter

Among these hospitals, some performed even better, ranking among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide. They are M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville and River's Edge Hospital and Clinic in Saint Peter.

No Minnesota hospital made the top 10 percent nationally.

The Patient Safety Excellence Award is based on an analysis of federal hospital data that evaluates how well hospitals protect patients from serious complications during inpatient care. Healthgrades looked at 13 measures of patient safety, such as infections, surgical complications and other preventable problems.

To qualify for the award, hospitals must meet strict quality standards and show strong performance on most of those safety measures. They also cannot have any reported cases of a foreign object, such as a sponge or surgical tool, being left inside a patient during a procedure. In addition, hospitals must report data on most of the key safety indicators used to evaluate performance.

If all hospitals performed as well as the award winners, 100,819 patient safety events could have been avoided between 2022 and 2024, Healthgrades said in a news release. Patients treated in award-winning facilities were significantly less likely to experience the four most common patient safety accidents and medical errors, which represent a serious, preventable complication and account for 78 percent of all safety events.

In the award-winning hospitals:

• An in-hospital fall resulting in a fracture was 52.4 percent less likely
• A collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest was 57.5 percent less likely
• A catheter-related bloodstream infection acquired in the hospital was 67.8 percent less likely
• A pressure or bed sore acquired in the hospital was 71.9 percent less likely

View the full Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient list and metholodology on healthgrades.com.