2 Montgomery County Hospitals Ranked Among 2021's Best

SILVER SPRING, MD — As the coronavirus places renewed importance on our access to safe, quality health care, a new ranking by Healthgrades has recognized two hospitals in Montgomery County for superior performance in the years leading up to the pandemic.

Healthgrades, an online health care information company, recently released its 2021 list of America's Best Hospitals. The annual ranking recognizes the top 1, 2, and 5 percent of hospitals in the nation.

To compile the ranking, researchers looked at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid data from fiscal years 2017-19 for more than 4,500 hospitals nationwide. Researchers then analyzed how each performed across 32 conditions and procedures including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis, and stroke.

In a release announcing the 2021 list, Healthgrades said patients treated in ranked hospitals have a 27.4 percent lower chance of dying than if they were treated in hospitals that are unranked.

This also means that if all hospitals performed similarly to Healthgrades America's Best Hospitals, 167,235 lives could potentially have been saved, the release says.

There are eight hospitals in Montgomery County: Germantown Emergency Center (Germantown); Holy Cross Hospital (Silver Spring); Montgomery General Hospital (Olney); National Institutes of Health (Bethesda); Shady Grove Adventist Hospital (Rockville); Suburban Hospital (Bethesda); Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (Bethesda); and Washington Adventist Hospital (Silver Spring).

Here are the two Montgomery County hospitals that ranked among the best in the nation:

Top 100:

• Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring

Top 250:

• Suburban Hospital in Bethesda

The hospitals listed above are organized alphabetically and are not ranked in any particular order. Healthgrades' complete list of the top 250 hospitals is also organized by state and not ranked in any order.

"Now more than ever, consumers understand the importance of researching hospitals and finding the best organization to meet their health care needs," Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer of Healthgrades, said in a release. "Especially in this era of COVID-19, we commend the recipients … for their commitment to providing superior outcomes and keeping their communities safe."

In addition to its Best Hospitals ranking, Healthgrades provides information to consumers based on patient surveys, data from government sources, and data that come directly from providers or practices.

You can see the full list of the top 50, 100, and 250 hospitals from Healthgrades on its website.

After identifying eligible hospitals, Healthgrades used a series of steps to compile its final rankings. Read the full methodology for the rankings.