Ascension Illinois is excited to announce that two of its hospitals, Ascension Saint Joseph-Chicago and Ascension Saint Alexius, have earned spots on Forbes’ inaugural list of the nation’s top hospitals for 2026.
Around 5,400 general acute care hospitals were eligible for scoring this year on a five-star scale. Four and five-star facilities earned recognition on the prestigious list, with Saint Joseph earning a five-star score alongside only roughly 250 hospitals nationwide, and Saint Alexius earning a four-star score.
“Every facility, clinic and associate at Ascension Illinois works toward providing the best holistic healthcare possible and ensuring the best possible outcomes for our patient populations,” said David Bordo, M.D., Chief Clinical Officer at Ascension Illinois. "Our inclusion in this inaugural recognition reinforces and validates our continued commitment to providing the highest quality of care to our communities."
The Forbes Top Hospitals rating system includes input from an advisory panel of clinicians, scientists, health policy researchers and patient advocates, and data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Provider Data Catalog (PDC). The dataset informs the organization’s scoring on patient outcomes, best practices, value and overall patient experience.
These ratings place most of its scoring weight on clinical outcomes and statically adjusts a hospital’s dataset in accordance with its patient population’s social determinants of health. This means that the socioeconomics, access to medical services and the conditions in which people live near a facility also affect a hospital’s rating.
Both Saint Joseph and Saint Alexius have earned quality recognitions in 2025, highlighting their commitment to excellence across multiple service lines and specialties. Saint Joseph earned two different distinctions earlier this year; the American College of Surgeons’ National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers awarded an accreditation to Saint Joseph, labeling the hospital’s breast center as an ACS Surgical Quality Partner. And the hospital was also named a Blue Distinction Center by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois for its knee and hip replacement program.
Saint Alexius earned a “high-performing” distinction from U.S. News & World Report for its treatment of knee replacement and heart failure, and possesses a national quality approval from the Joint Commission, accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, a Primary Stroke Center certification and multiple “gold” and “elite” honors from the American Heart Association for its stroke and diabetes care.
