Top U.S. Hospitals Step Up as Access Gaps Widen

As Americans struggle with affordability, chronic health issues and lack of access to care, hospitals are grappling with how to meet rising demand from vulnerable patients.

Newsweek's World's Best Hospitals 2026 ranking, done in partnership with global data platform Statista, evaluates more than 2,500 hospitals across different countries based on various factors like hospital quality metrics, patient satisfaction data and accreditations.

Each of the 32 countries included on the ranking has its own list of top-rated hospitals. The U.S. has the most hospitals listed, with 420. Of those, there are 37 that are making their ranking debut, including St. Clair Hospital at No. 330.

"At St. Clair Health, our greatest strength is our people and a long-standing cultural commitment to quality," Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. John T. Sullivan told Newsweek. "We have intentionally built an environment where physicians, nurses, and team members are empowered to deliver safe, compassionate, and highly reliable care. That culture-combined with strong clinical performance and accountability-drives consistently high outcomes and patient trust."

As an independent suburban health system in southwestern Pennsylvania, Sullivan said St. Clair's size makes it "nimble and personal" while its high standards and collaboration with Mayo Clinic ensure it provides the best quality of care.

The U.S. list on the World's Best Hospitals 2026 ranking was made up of mostly hospitals that are part of larger health systems or universities in 42 states and Washington, D.C.

Every national list on the ranking is determined by hospital quality metrics, patient satisfaction data, recommendations for medical experts and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) implementation.

In the U.S., the hospital quality metrics come from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey and other relevant hospital accreditations. Some of those metrics include death rates, complications, readmission, staffing, outpatient procedures, health equity and research.

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina is new to the ranking at the No. 347 spot on the U.S. list. The academic medical center is part of Atrium Health, which has more than 1,400 locations and 40 hospitals across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama, including the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

President and CEO Dr. David Zaas said his team's "dedication and unwavering commitment to delivering the highest standards of excellence" and the hospital’s "deep connection to the community" are what make it exceptional.

That level of access and collaboration with an academic center means research isn't separate from care-it’s embedded in the core mission of the hospital and its commitment to think boldly and embrace the unknown.

This includes working on the U.S. POINTER study, a large clinical trial supported by the NIH and Alzheimer's Association to study how targeted lifestyle changes can improve cognitive function in adults at risk for dementia.

"We bridge the gap between discovery and delivery," Zaas said. "Research is not separate from care – it's woven directly into everyday patient care through Wake Forest University School of Medicine, our academic core. We're discovering new breakthroughs and improving patient outcomes every day and I am immensely proud of that."

Avera St. Luke's Hospital, located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, is part of the larger Avera integrated health system and debuted on the ranking at the No. 413 spot.

The rural Christian health system, which dates back to the 1880s, has the majority of its 38 hospitals located in rural communities throughout South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and North Dakota.

"To have that kind of longevity, you must have a strong foundation and be rooted in your mission," Avera St. Luke's Hospital Regional President and CEO Dan Bjerknes said of the hospital's 125-year legacy. "But it takes more than that; it takes dedicated employees. We have had employees work for this hospital for 40 to 50 years, and that level of commitment to our patients is something to be proud of."

As a rural hospital, Bjerknes told Newsweek that quality, access and growth are paramount to ensure it has "both primary care and specialty care for those that need it."

In May, the health system will transition to Epic for its electronic health record to improve efficiencies, workflows and patient experience. It also recently implemented a full-time Service Excellence Advisor and a Patient Comment Committee to review patient feedback and work with leaders to develop solutions that address areas for improvement.

The "culture of caring" does not only apply to patients, but it also extends to encouraging "simple, compassionate acts" toward employees to provide positivity, support and a sense of purpose.

With labor shortages impacting health systems across the country, Avera has partnered with local universities to build a pipeline for nurses. For example, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine has been sending students to St. Luke's to complete their clinical rotations since 2020.

Bjerknes said this collaboration introduces a new pool of future health care workers to rural areas. He added that St. Luke's has a 73 percent retention rate for first-year employees, with overall retention at nearly 84 percent.

"Employees believe in and carry out our mission every day," he added. "That is not easy; yet day after day they continue to serve."

Ultimately, the mission of these top health systems is to address the direct needs of their communities.

At Atrium Wake Forest, Zaas said access to health is exacerbated by poverty, food insecurity and housing instability, which leads to "significant disparities in life expectancy and high rate of chronic disease and substance abuse." Bjerknes notes that not every patient they serve can travel long distances to receive care.

In response to these growing challenges, both Atrium Wake Forest and St. Luke's are establishing clinics, outreach efforts and other critical care facilities. St. Luke's, for example, established a Women's Center to safely deliver babies and a CareFlight air ambulance with trauma teams for emergencies that require air transportation.

"Everyone in health care today has an obligation to work to solve longstanding issues around access to care, whether that's in rural communities or urban neighborhoods," Zaas said. "Our organization is working to close these access gaps by designing solutions alongside our communities."

The full ranking of the World’s Best Hospitals 2026 can be found here.

2026 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.

This story was originally published March 4, 2026 at 7:42 AM.