Hospitals with the smallest Medicare readmissions penalties

About these rankings

Rankings use the 2026 release of CMS Care Compare data. Hospitals share a rank (“T”) when their values are equal, and only hospitals with a reported value for the sorted measure are ranked. Shading compares each value with every hospital in the country, so it doesn’t change with your filters. Small differences are often not statistically meaningful; use the methodology and glossary for context.

Readmissions penalty

Change to Medicare payments under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, which cuts payments (by up to 3%) to hospitals with more readmissions than expected. 0% means no penalty..

Net Medicare quality adjustment

Approximate combined change to the hospital's Medicare inpatient payments from the three pay-for-performance programs, added together: the readmissions penalty, the value-based purchasing bonus or penalty, and the 1% cut for hospital-acquired conditions. Inpatient prospective payment system hospitals only; Maryland hospitals are exempt..

Hospital-acquired condition score

Total score in the Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program, from patient safety events and infections (weighted z-scores; 0 is about average, higher is worse). Medicare cuts payments 1% for the worst-scoring quarter of hospitals..

Value-based purchasing score

Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Total Performance Score (0-100), from outcomes, safety, patient experience and efficiency. It sets a Medicare bonus or penalty..

Value-based purchasing adjustment

Change to Medicare payments under Hospital Value-Based Purchasing: a bonus (positive) or penalty (negative, up to 2%) based on the Total Performance Score..