Southwestern Medical Center Named to Newsweek’s 2024 Listing of ‘America’s Best-in-State Hospitals’

On October 25, Southwestern Medical Center (Southwestern) was named to Newsweek’s list of America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024. This prestigious award is presented by Newsweek and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry-ranking provider. Fourteen hospitals (11 general hospitals and three specialized hospitals) from the state of Oklahoma made the list, which can currently be viewed on Newsweek’s website.

“It’s an honor to once again be recognized by Newsweek as one of the best hospitals in the nation, and certainly in the state of Oklahoma,” said Adam Bracks, CEO of Southwestern. “Our team of skilled and compassionate caregivers is dedicated to the health and well-being of our patients and the community. We see their commitment every day in the high-quality care they provide, in our quality ratings and accreditations, and in the many ways we advance medical care in the Lawton-Fort Sill area. This recognition is yet another well-deserved validation of our hard work.”

According to the Newsweek/Statista listing methodology, proximity and access are of the utmost importance when choosing between top hospitals. The America’s Best-In-State Hospitals 2024 ranking was created to identify the top hospitals at the state level.

Hospitals from all U.S. states were eligible for the ranking and included in the nationwide survey. The 25 states with the most hospitals according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were surveyed individually. Four data sources were used for the evaluation:

• Nationwide online survey: Over 10,000 medical professionals (doctors, hospital managers, and healthcare workers) were asked to recommend the best hospitals (in and out of state) based on their expertise.
• Quality Metrics Data: Data from CMS available for Mortality, Safety, Readmission, Experience, Timely & Effective Care was considered.
• Patient Experience: Cleanliness of the hospitals and quietness, communication of the nurses/doctors and staff responsiveness, care transition, medicine communication, and discharge information.
• PROMS Implementation survey: To account for the increasing importance of Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).

Newsweek calculated scores for each hospital by weighing recommendations from peers (in-state: 32.5%; out-of-state: 7.5%); patient experience (17.5%) based on publicly available data; hospital quality metrics (40%) per CMS and The Joint Commission; and patient-reported outcome measures implementation (2.5%).

“The key metrics used to differentiate hospitals included in this listing of best hospitals ‒ especially patient experience, hospital quality, and peer recommendations ‒ give a pretty comprehensive view of what success should look like,” said Bracks. “The fact that Southwestern continues to excel in these areas is a testament to our team but also to the broader community that supports us.”

The Newsweek honor continues a run of accolades for the hospital. In July, Southwestern was one of 153 hospitals ‒ and the only hospital in Oklahoma ‒ included in the 2023 Becker’s Hospital Review listing of “great community hospitals.” Southwestern was also the only hospital in Southwest Oklahoma to receive a Leapfrog “A” in Spring 2022 (at the time, its fourth consecutive A rating) and was included in Newsweek’s 2022 U.S. list of the World’s Best Hospitals, ranking No. 236 nationally and No. 3 in Oklahoma among hospitals of any size or specialty.