Saint Joseph London Named One of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals®

LONDON– April 14, 2026 – Saint Joseph London has been identified as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® according to an independent quality analysis conducted by Premier, Inc., and published by Modern Healthcare. The hospital ranked number 11 out of the top 20 medium community hospitals across the U.S.

“Saint Joseph London is honored to be recognized by Modern Healthcare and Premier as one of the nation’s top 100 hospitals,” said John Yanes, president, Saint Joseph London. “As we celebrate 100 years serving southeastern Kentucky, this recognition is yet another example of the dedication to quality care that our caregivers provide each and every day. They live our vision, exude our values and help us to fulfill our mission to make the healing presence of God known each day.”

For more than 30 years, Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals® program has used objective, quantitative analysis of publicly available data to identify the top-performing hospitals in the United States. The program is designed to help health care leaders pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities by providing transparent, unbiased benchmarks and actionable insights.

Hospitals do not apply to participate in the study, and award recipients do not pay to market their honor.

100 Top Hospitals® Program Performance

Based on comparisons between the study’s top performers and peer hospitals, the analysis found that this year’s 100 Top Hospitals® delivered better outcomes and operated more efficiently. If all hospitals performed at the level of this year’s top performers, the impact for Medicare inpatients could include:

• More than 279,000 additional lives saved

• More than 477,000 additional patients being free complications

• More than $14.3 billion in inpatient cost savings

• More than 21,700 fewer patients readmitted within 30 days

Additionally, this year’s benchmark hospitals outperformed peer hospitals across all 10 performance measures and in every comparison group. Key findings from the study include:

• A 36.8% difference in inpatient mortality between benchmark hospitals and peer hospitals nationally

• Small community hospitals showed the largest inpatient mortality difference, with a 49.3% improvement compared to peers

• Teaching hospitals demonstrated the largest difference in complications, outperforming peer hospitals by 30% 

• Fifty-five hospitals were repeat winners from the previous year, reinforcing the role of sustained improvement and system-level performance

“Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals program recognizes healthcare organizations that consistently deliver high-quality care while improving operational and financial performance,” said David Zito, President of Performance Services at Premier. “By highlighting top performers and providing transparent, data-driven insights, this program helps hospitals nationwide identify opportunities to enhance care delivery, strengthen financial sustainability and improve outcomes for the communities they serve.”

About the Study

Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals® program focuses on short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of patients. Researchers evaluated 2,540 short-term, acute care, non-federal U.S. hospitals.

All research was based on publicly available data sources from 2019 through 2024, including:

• Medicare cost reports

• Medicare provider analysis and review (MEDPAR) data

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare

Hospitals were evaluated using a balanced scorecard of ten performance measures, including:

• Inpatient mortality index 

• Complications index 

• Health care-associated infections index 

• 30-day mortality rate 

• 30-day hybrid hospital-wide readmission rate 

• Average length of stay

• Inpatient expense per discharge

• Medicare spend per beneficiary

• Operating profit margin

• HCAHPS top-box percent

Hospitals are stratified and ranked within peer groups to allow fair comparisons. For more information, including methodology details, visit Modern Healthcare.  

About Saint Joseph Health

Saint Joseph Health, part of CommonSpirit Health, is one of the largest and most comprehensive health systems in the Commonwealth of Kentucky with 100 locations in 15 cities, including hospitals, physician groups, clinics, primary care centers, specialty institutes, home health agencies and an ambulatory Care Center. The hospitals in Saint Joseph Health are Flaget Memorial Hospital, Saint Joseph Berea, Saint Joseph East, Saint Joseph Hospital, Saint Joseph Jessamine, Saint Joseph London, Saint Joseph Mount Sterling, and Women’s Hospital at Saint Joseph East. In total, the health system serves patients in 35 counties statewide. Saint Joseph Health is dedicated to providing a wide array of services to build a healthier future for all. Saint Joseph Health embodies a strong mission and faith-based heritage and works through local partnerships to expand access to care in the communities it serves.

About Saint Joseph London

Saint Joseph London is a 150-bed full-service hospital located in London, KY. Established in 1926, the facility serves patients from southeastern Kentucky, including those from Clay, Laurel, Jackson, Whitley, Knox and Pulaski counties. The current $152 million regional hospital opened in 2010, and offers all private patient rooms, with most overlooking a small lake and garden on the 52-acre healing environment.