Healthgrades' Patient Safety Excellence Award evaluates how well they protect patients from serious complications during inpatient care.
Fifty-six hospitals in California were among hundreds across the country recognized for safety and patient experience in a new report.
Healthgrades, an online platform that helps people find and compare doctors, specialists and hospitals, announced Tuesday that 438 hospitals in 40 states met the criteria for its 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award. They represent the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide for patient safety.
Here are the California locations. Hospitals with one asterisk are in the Top 100 nationwide, and hospitals with two asterisks are in the Top 50.
Hospital Locations
Among these hospitals, some performed even better, ranking among the top 5 percent of hospitals nationwide.
Hospitals in the top 10 percent nationally include the following:
Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana, CA
Adventist Health Glendale – Glendale Adventist Health White Memorial – Los Angeles AHMC Anaheim Regional Medical Center – Anaheim City Of Hope Helford Clinical Research Hospital – Duarte Docs Surgical Hospital – Los Angeles L A Downtown Medical Center – Los Angeles Los Angeles Community Hospital – Los Angeles PIH Health Downey Hospital – Downey Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center – Burbank Saint Francis Medical Center – Lynwood Sherman Oaks Hospital – Sherman Oaks Southern California Hospital at Hollywood – Hollywood
Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA
Corona Regional Medical Center – Corona Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center – Pomona
Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura, CA
Los Robles Regional Medical Center – Thousand Oaks
Santa Ana–Anaheim–Irvine / Orange County
Foothill Regional Medical Center – Tustin Hoag Orthopedic Institute – Irvine Huntington Beach Hospital – Huntington Beach La Palma Intercommunity Hospital – La Palma Providence St. Jude Medical Center – Fullerton
San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Oakland Alta Bates Summit Medical Center-Alta Bates Campus – Berkeley CPMC Mission Bernal Campus & Orthopedic Institute – San Francisco
San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA
Good Samaritan Hospital – San Jose Regional Medical Center of San Jose – San Jose
Napa, CA
Providence Queen of the Valley Medical Center – Napa
Vallejo–Fairfield, CA
Sutter Solano Medical Center – Vallejo
Stockton, CA
Dameron Hospital – Stockton Kaiser Permanente Manteca Medical Center – Manteca
Modesto, CA
Emanuel Medical Center – Turlock
Merced, CA
Mercy Medical Center Merced – Merced
Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville, CA
Mercy San Juan Medical Center – Carmichael Methodist Hospital of Sacramento – Sacramento Sutter Davis Hospital – Davis Sutter Roseville Medical Center – Roseville Woodland Memorial Hospital – Woodland
Fresno, CA
Clovis Community Medical Center – Clovis
Hanford–Corcoran, CA
Adventist Health Hanford – Hanford
Santa Barbara–Santa Maria–Goleta, CA
Marian Regional Medical Center – Santa Maria
San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos, CA
UC San Diego Health Hillcrest Hillcrest Medical Center – San Diego
Redding, CA
Shasta Regional Medical Center – Redding
Chico, CA
Oroville Hospital – Oroville
Victorville–Apple Valley, CA
Desert Valley Hospital – Victorville
San Francisco Bay Area additional CBSAs
Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center – Redwood City Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center – South San Francisco Mills-Peninsula Medical Center – Burlingame Sequoia Hospital – Redwood City Washington Hospital – Fremont Novato Community Hospital – Novato
The Patient Safety Excellence Award is based on an analysis of federal hospital data that evaluates how well hospitals protect patients from serious complications during inpatient care. Healthgrades looked at 13 measures of patient safety, such as infections, surgical complications and other preventable problems.
To qualify for the award, hospitals must meet strict quality standards and show strong performance on most of those safety measures. They also cannot have any reported cases of a foreign object, such as a sponge or surgical tool, being left inside a patient during a procedure. In addition, hospitals must report data on most of the key safety indicators used to evaluate performance.
If all hospitals performed as well as the award winners, 100,819 patient safety events could have been avoided between 2022 and 2024, Healthgrades said in a news release. Patients treated in award-winning facilities were significantly less likely to experience the four most common patient safety accidents and medical errors, which represent a serious, preventable complication and account for 78 percent of all safety events.
In the award-winning hospitals:
View the full Patient Safety Excellence Award recipient list and metholodology on healthgrades.com.
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