America's Most Racially Inclusive Hospitals, 2023

VIDEO: Our September 19, 2023 launch event featuring Dr. Uché Blackstock, CEO of Advancing Health Equity; Dr. Selwyn O. Rogers, Founding Director of the University of Chicago Medicine Trauma Center; Elena Mendez-Escobar, PhD, MBA, Co-Director of the Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center ; and Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute.

The Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility is the first rankings program to examine the racial inclusivity of America’s hospitals and determine their success at serving the people of color in their communities. This is the fourth year racial inclusivity results have been released and the first time that data from Medicare Advantage has been included along with traditional Medicare claims. (press release | methodology)

To create the rankings, the Institute assessed how well the demographics of a hospital’s Medicare patients matched the demographics of the hospital’s surrounding communities. Hospitals serving more patients from communities of color than expected got better rankings. Some of the most and least racially inclusive U.S. hospitals are located in the same cities.

Key Takeaways

Of the 3,142 hospitals included in the study, top and bottom performers were rare. Only 3% received 5 stars (highest score) and 6% received 1 star (lowest score).
Some of the most and least racially inclusive hospitals are concentrated in the same metro areas, reflecting segregation in the healthcare market.
Eleven metropolitan areas were identified by Lown as having significant hospital market segregation, with more than 20% of their hospitals ranked most or least inclusive. New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit top the list.
Many of the cities with segregated hospital markets also have large gaps in life expectancy by race. For example, white residents of St. Louis county live nearly 9 years longer than Black residents.

50 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIVE HOSPITALS

These are the fifty most racially inclusive hospitals in the United States according to the 2023 Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility.

You can also view the complete rankings of over 3,000 hospitals.

RANK	NAME	CITY	STATE
1	BOSTON MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION	BOSTON	MA
2	JOHN H. STROGER JR. HOSPITAL	CHICAGO	IL
3	UChicago Medicine	CHICAGO	IL
4	Penn Presbyterian Medical Center	PHILADELPHIA	PA
5	METRO NASHVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL	NASHVILLE	TN
6	South Coast Global Medical Center	SANTA ANA	CA
7	St. Charles Madras	MADRAS	OR
8	GRADY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL	ATLANTA	GA
9	METHODIST HOSPITALS	GARY	IN
10	Emory University Hospital Midtown	ATLANTA	GA
11	Capital Health Regional Medical Center	TRENTON	NJ
12	Sanford Chamberlain Medical Center	CHAMBERLAIN	SD
13	University Health Truman Medical Center	KANSAS CITY	MO
14	MedStar Washington Hospital Center	WASHINGTON	DC
15	COLORADO RIVER MEDICAL CENTER	NEEDLES	CA
16	Banner – University Medical Center South Campus	TUCSON	AZ
17	Research Medical Center	KANSAS CITY	MO
18	NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan	NEW YORK	NY
19	Newark Beth Israel Medical Center	NEWARK	NJ
20	WEST SUBURBAN MEDICAL CENTER	OAK PARK	IL
21	BIG HORN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL	HARDIN	MT
22	JFK Memorial Hospital	INDIO	CA
23	Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center	LOS ANGELES	CA
24	Howard University Hospital	WASHINGTON	DC
25	VALLEYWISE MEDICAL HEALTH CENTER	PHOENIX	AZ
26	Methodist Dallas Medical Center	DALLAS	TX
27	UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL	NEWARK	NJ
28	NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens	JAMAICA	NY
29	UF Health Jacksonville	JACKSONVILLE	FL
30	SIGNATURE HEALTHCARE BROCKTON HOSPITAL	BROCKTON	MA
31	The George Washington University Hospital	WASHINGTON	DC
32	Henry Ford Hospital	DETROIT	MI
33	Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital	GEORGETOWN	SC
34	North Shore Medical Center	MIAMI	FL
35	HCA Houston Healthcare Pearland	PEARLAND	TX
36	St. Mary’s Medical Center	WEST PALM BEACH	FL
37	Princeton Baptist Medical Center	BIRMINGHAM	AL
38	Lutheran Downtown Hospital	FORT WAYNE	IN
39	LORETTO HOSPITAL	CHICAGO	IL
40	Astria Sunnyside Hospital	SUNNYSIDE	WA
41	Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix	PHOENIX	AZ
42	DMC Harper University Hospital	DETROIT	MI
43	Emory Decatur Hospital	DECATUR	GA
44	DENVER HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER	DENVER	CO
45	Banner Estrella Medical Center	PHOENIX	AZ
46	SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital	SAINT LOUIS	MO
47	MERCY HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER	CHICAGO	IL
48	Southern California Hospital at Hollywood	HOLLYWOOD	CA
49	Amberwell HIAWATHA	HIAWATHA	KS
50	PARKLAND HEALTH AND HOSPITAL SYSTEM	DALLAS	TX

U.S. CITIES WITH MOST SEGREGATED HOSPITAL Markets

The following cities* have the most segregated hospital markets in America, with more than 20% of hospitals receiving 1 or 5 stars. For example, the New Orleans, Louisiana metro area has 14 total hospitals. Five hospitals earned 1 star (lowest score); two earned 5 stars (highest score). That means 7/14 (50%) of the hospitals in this metro area are outliers, indicating a segregated hospital market.

Many of the cities with segregated hospital markets also have large gaps in life expectancy by race. For example, white residents of St. Louis County live nearly 9 years longer than Black residents.

City	# least inclusive hospitals (1 star)	# most inclusive hospitals (5 stars)	total hospitals	% outliers
New Orleans, LA	5	2	14	50%
St. Louis, MO	10	3	30	43%
Detroit, MI	8	3	29	38%
Milwaukee, WI	4	1	14	36%
Philadelphia, PA	7	4	41	27%
Kansas City, MO	5	2	27	26%
Chicago, IL	9	10	75	25%
Denver, CO	2	2	18	22%
Phoenix, AZ	2	4	28	21%
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX	6	4	47	21%
Atlanta, GA	3	4	33	21%

*Cities are defined by their metropolitan statistical area (MSAs) from the United States Census Bureau. All of these cities have more than 10 hospitals within the MSA region, more than 20% outliers, and at least one 1-star and at least one 5-star hospital.

#1 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIvE HoSPITAL IN EACH STATE

These are the most racially inclusive hospitals in each state (ranked #1 in their state) according to the 2023 Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility.

STATE	HOSPITAL	CITY
Alabama	Princeton Baptist Medical Center	Birmingham
Alaska	n/a*	n/a*
Arizona	Banner-University Medical Center South Campus	Tucson
Arkansas	Ozarks Community Hospital of Gravette	Gravette
California	South Coast Global Medical Center	Santa Ana
Colorado	Denver Health Medical Center	Denver
Connecticut	St. Francis Hospital & Medical Center	Hartford
Delaware	Saint Francis Hospital	Wilmington
Washington, DC	MedStar Washington Hospital Center	Washington, DC
Florida	UF Health Jacksonville	Jacksonville
Georgia	Grady Memorial Hospital	Atlanta
Hawaii	Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center	Honolulu
Idaho	West Valley Medical Center	Caldwell
Illinois	John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital	Chicago
Indiana	Methodist Hospitals	Gary
Iowa	Avera Holy Family Hospital	Estherville
Kansas	Amberwell Hiawatha	Hiawatha
Kentucky	UofL Health – Jewish Hospital	Louisville
Louisiana	University Medical Center New Orleans	New Orleans
Maine	Northern Maine Medical Center	Fort Kent
Maryland	Adventist HealthCare Fort Washington Medical Center	Fort Washington
Massachusetts	Boston Medical Center	Boston
Michigan	Henry Ford Hospital	Detroit
Minnesota	Hennepin Healthcare – HCMC	Minneapolis
Mississippi	Merit Health Central	Jackson
Missouri	University Health Truman Medical Center	Kansas City
Montana	Big Horn Memorial Hospital	Hardin
Nebraska	Chi Health Immanuel	Omaha
Nevada	North Vista Hospital	North Las Vegas
New Hampshire	Monadnock Community Hospital	Peterborough
New Jersey	Capital Health Regional Medical Center	Trenton
New Mexico	UNM Sandoval Regional Medical Center	Rio Rancho
New York	NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan	New York
North Carolina	Atrium Health University City	Charlotte
North Dakota	Sanford Hillsboro Medical Center	Hillsboro
Ohio	Lutheran Hospital	Cleveland
Oklahoma	Oklahoma State University Medical Center	Tulsa
Oregon	St. Charles Madras	Madras
Pennsylvania	Penn Presbyterian Medical Center	Philadelphia
Rhode Island	Newport Hospital	Newport
South Carolina	Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital	Georgetown
South Dakota	Sanford Chamberlain Medical Center	Chamberlain
Tennessee	Metro Nashville General Hospital	Nashville
Texas	Methodist Dallas Medical Center	Dallas
Utah	Holy Cross Hospital – Jordan Valley	West Jordan
Vermont	Springfield Hospital	Springfield
Virginia	Richmond Community Hospital	Richmond
Washington	Astria Sunnyside Hospital	Sunnyside
West Virginia	Grant Memorial Hospital (managed hospital)	Petersburg
Wisconsin	Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital – Milwaukee Campus	Milwaukee
Wyoming	Washakie Medical Center	Worland

*Hospitals with racially homogenous community areas were not given a ranking for racial inclusivity. Only one hospital in Alaska was able to be ranked for this metric.

U.S. NEWS Honor Roll Hospitals

The performance of the U.S. News Honor Roll hospitals on the Lown racial inclusivity metric varied widely. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania had the best performance, ranking at #52, and North Shore University Hospital had the worst performance, ranking at #2999 of the 3,142 hospitals studied.

Lown racial inclusivity rank (n=3142)	Name	City	State
110	Barnes-Jewish Hospital	St. Louis	MO
428	Brigham and Women’s Hospital	Boston	MA
2948	Cedars-Sinai Medical Center	Los Angeles	CA
105	Cleveland Clinic	Cleveland	OH
52	Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	PA
2134	Houston Methodist Hospital	Houston	TX
521	Johns Hopkins Hospital	Baltimore	MD
607	Massachusetts General Hospital	Boston	MA
n/a	Mayo Clinic*	Rochester	MN
2825	Michigan Medicine	Ann Arbor	MI
1690	Mount Sinai Hospital	New York City	NY
2181	New York-Presbyterian Hospital	New York City	NY
2999	North Shore University Hospital	Manhasset	NY
2322	Northwestern Memorial Hospital	Chicago	IL
2946	NYU Langone Hospitals	New York City	NY
2969	Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center	Los Angeles	CA
154	Rush University Medical Center	Chicago	IL
2528	Stanford Hospital	Stanford	CA
1035	UC San Diego Medical Center	San Diego	CA
530	UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus Heights	San Francisco	CA
1751	UT Southwestern Medical Center	Dallas	TX
925	Vanderbilt University Medical Center	Nashville	TN

* The Mayo Clinic did not meet the criteria to be included in the ranking because it had a racially homogenous community area (97% one race).

methodology

The 2023 Lown Institute Hospitals Index racial inclusivity metric measures how well more than 3,100 U.S. hospitals serve people of color in their surrounding communities. To create this metric, we used both traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage claims and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey from 2021.

Each hospital’s racial inclusivity score reflects how well the demographics of the hospital’s “community area” (containing people who the hospital could serve) compare to the demographics of the patient population (who the hospital does serve). The community area is determined using the zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) from which a hospital’s Medicare patients come and includes a travel time adjustment.

We used Census data to determine the proportions of the following racial/ethnic groups in both the hospital patient ZCTA and and community area ZCTA in the 65+ population: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, Other, Two or more races, and White (not Hispanic or Latino). Demographics from ZCTAs closer to the hospital were weighted more heavily than ZCTAs farther away. Hospitals received higher scores if they had higher patient counts from ZCTAs with greater proportions of non-white patients compared to their community area. Hospitals with racially homogenous community areas (97% one race) were not given a ranking for racial inclusivity.

Cities were defined by their metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) from the United States Census Bureau. Hospital markets were designated as “segregated” when they had more than 10 ranked hospitals and more than 20% of hospitals with 1 or 5 stars (must have at least one on each end).

Information on Black/white life expectancy gaps was obtained from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) analysis of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics data, available from http://vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa. (Accessed August 2023)

For more details, see our full Methodology paper: https://lownhospitalsindex.org/rankings/our-methodology/

HOSPITAL RACIAL INCLUSIVITY

Socially responsible hospitals serve everyone in their community

Key Takeaways

50 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIVE HOSPITALS

U.S. CITIES WITH MOST SEGREGATED HOSPITAL Markets

#1 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIvE HoSPITAL IN EACH STATE

U.S. NEWS Honor Roll Hospitals

methodology

Key Takeaways

50 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIVE HOSPITALS

U.S. CITIES WITH MOST SEGREGATED HOSPITAL Markets

#1 MOST RACIALLY INCLUSIvE HoSPITAL IN EACH STATE

U.S. NEWS Honor Roll Hospitals

methodology

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