28 IL Hospitals Among Best In U.S. In New Forbes Ranking

Forbes unveiled its first-ever Top Hospitals List and Rankings for 2026 on Thursday, including 28 Illinois hospitals among the best in the U.S.

For its inaugural report, Forbes evaluated nearly 5,400 general acute care hospitals listed in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Provider Data Catalog based on their performance across 56 reported hospital quality measures.

The 56 selected measures were grouped into four categories with different weights: outcomes (55 percent of the weight), best practices (20 percent), value (15 percent) and patient experience (10 percent).

Ascension Saint Joseph-Chicago was ranked at the top of the list of best hospitals in Illinois, with an overall five-star ranking. The hospital has a five-star ranking for outcomes, a four-star ranking for best practices, a three-star ranking for value and a three-star ranking for patient experience.

"Navigating the healthcare system can be daunting. Managing referrals, red tape, complicated treatment protocols and increasing costs become all the more overwhelming when people are at their most vulnerable—facing illness, long-term conditions, or injuries," Forbes senior editor Rachel Rabkin Peachman said.

Other Illinois hospitals recognized as the best in the state are:

• Ascension Saint Joseph, Chicago - Overall ranking of five stars
• Blessing Hospital, Quincy- five stars
• Northwestern Medicine Catherine Gratz Griffin Lake Forest Hospital, Lake Forest - five stars
• Northwestern Medicine Central Dupage Hospital, Winfield - five stars
• Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, Geneva - five stars
• Northwestern Medicine McHenry Hospital, McHenry - five stars
• Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago - five stars
• Rush University Medical Center - five stars
• UChicago Medicine AdventHealth La Grange, La Grange - five stars
• Advocate Condell Medical Center, Libertyville - four stars
• Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Barrington - four stars
• Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Park Ridge - four stars
• Advocate Sherman Hospital, Elgin - four stars
• Alton Memorial Hospital, Alton - four stars
• Ascension Saint Alexius, Hoffman Estates - four stars
• Clay County Hospital, Flora - four stars
• Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst - four stars
• Endeavor Health Evanston Hospital, Evanston - four stars
• Javon Bea Hospital Riverside, Rockford - four stars
• Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Belleville - four stars
• OSF Saint Elizabeth Medical Center, Ottawa - four stars
• Resurrection Medical Center, Chicago - four stars
• Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee - four stars
• Rush Copley Medical Center, Aurora - four stars
• Silver Cross Hospital, New Lenox - four stars
• St. Mary's Hospital, Kankakee - four stars
• Swedish American Hospital, Rockford - four stars
• UChicago Medicine AdventHealth, Hinsdale - four stars

To produce the Forbes Top Hospitals rating system, researchers enlisted healthcare measurement experts, including an advisory panel comprised of clinicians, scientists, health policy researchers, and patient advocates. The magazine also partnered with Inovalon, a healthcare data and analytics firm, to calculate the ratings.

The outcomes were statistically adjusted for social drivers of health, such as socioeconomic and access to medical services.

The ratings were then calculated, and out of 4,601 eligible hospitals, 253 hospitals received an overall rating of five stars, and 509 hospitals received an overall rating of four stars. The stars represented the following percentiles:

1. One star: 1st to 10th percentile
2. Two stars: 11th to 30th percentile
3. Three stars: 31st to 70th percentile
4. Four stars: 71st to 90th percentile
5. Five stars: 91st to 100th percentile

To view the full list of Forbes Top Hospitals, click here.