Burlington's Lahey Hospital Ranked Among 2021's Best 50

BURLINGTON, MA — As the coronavirus places renewed importance on our access to safe, quality health care, a new ranking by Healthgrades has recognized Burlington's Lahey Hospital and Medical Center 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.

Lahey made the top 1 percent list, as a Top 50 hospital for the third year in a row.

"We are proud to be named one of Healthgrades 50 top hospitals for 2021. Achieving this recognition for the past three years speaks to our true north of quality, safety, patient and caregiver experience so we can deliver the highest level of care for our patients and the communities we serve," said Andrew G. Villanueva, Lahey's chief quality officer. "These awards reflect a deep commitment and dedication by our clinicians and staff to achieving excellent patient outcomes."

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 that 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.

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

In addition to making the Top 50 list overall, Lahey was also recognized as a Top 100 hospital for critical care, gastroenterology, spine surgery and a number of other hospitals.

Read the hospital's full review here.

Here are the other Massachusetts hospitals ranked among the best in the nation.

Top 50:

• Newton - Wellesley Hospital

Top 100:

• Lawrence Memorial of Medford
• MelroseWakefield Hospital

Top 250:

• Massachusetts General Hospital
• North Shore Medical Center
• NSMC Union Hospital

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 comes directly from providers or practices.

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