The rankings include the state’s adult, acute-care hospitals with 50 beds or more. Specialty hospitals and government hospitals, including those run by the Veterans Health Administration, are excluded. Scores are calculated by examining data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, U.S. News & World Report and The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for hospital transparency. New criteria for 2015 include overall hospital readmission rates and readmission rates for hip and knee replacements, which Medicare reported for the first time last year. Other metrics include readmission and death rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia. More weight is assigned to some criteria, such as patient satisfaction.
For the full list of the 50 Best Hospitals in North Carolina, click here.
Patient picks
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems is a survey administered to adult hospital patients between 48 hours and six weeks after discharge. These are the top acute-care hospitals in the state with 50 or more beds, based on the percentage of patients who would recommend the hospital to others, as of December 2014.
Business North Carolina also publishes other popular rankings from Blue Cross and Blue Shield and U.S. News & World Report.
Click here to view other rankings.