SafeHospitals USA exists for one reason: most Americans have no idea how to evaluate a hospital before they need one. By the time you're deciding where to have surgery or where to take a family member for a serious condition, the decision feels urgent and the information feels scattered across marketing pages and vague star ratings.
We built this site to fix that. Every rating on this site is pulled from the same federal database that Medicare uses to evaluate hospitals — the CMS Hospital Compare dataset. We don't take money from hospitals. We don't sell rankings. We run the numbers on 5,426 facilities and publish them clearly so you can make an informed decision before you're in a hospital gown.
Our Mission
The federal government collects detailed hospital performance data — infection rates, mortality outcomes, readmission rates, patient safety incidents — and makes it technically available to the public. But it's buried in government interfaces that most patients will never use. SafeHospitals USA takes that raw data and turns it into something readable, searchable, and actually useful for the person trying to choose a hospital for their knee replacement or their parent's cardiac procedure.
Our Editorial Team
SafeHospitals USA is run by a small team of health data researchers and editors. We are not a hospital, health system, or insurance company. We do not employ licensed physicians, and we do not provide medical advice. Our role is to research, analyze, and publish publicly available healthcare quality data in a format that ordinary patients can use.
Sarah founded SafeHospitals USA after spending months trying to find reliable, unbiased hospital quality data for a family member facing elective surgery. She covers CMS data methodology, hospital scoring, and patient rights. No financial relationships with any hospital or health system.
James manages the annual CMS dataset processing that powers every hospital score on this site. He verifies data integrity, runs the composite scoring algorithm, and flags anomalies before each update cycle. Background in health informatics and public dataset analysis.
Priya fact-checks every article on SafeHospitals USA, cross-referencing CDC guidelines, AHRQ safety standards, and published clinical literature before any health claim goes live. She has a background in science journalism and health communication.
Our Scoring Methodology
Every Safety Score is a weighted composite of five clinical performance domains from the annual CMS Hospital Compare dataset. Here is exactly how each domain is weighted and what it measures:
| Domain | Weight | What It Measures |
|---|---|---|
| 🦠 Hospital-Acquired Infections | 30% | 6 CDC-tracked infections via NHSN: CLABSI, CAUTI, SSI, C. difficile, MRSA |
| 🛡 Patient Safety Indicators | 25% | Preventable events: blood clots, falls, pressure ulcers, surgical complications |
| 📊 30-Day Mortality Outcomes | 20% | Risk-adjusted death rates for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, COPD, hip/knee, CABG |
| 🔄 30-Day Readmission Rates | 15% | Risk-adjusted readmission across 7 condition categories |
| 💬 Patient Experience (HCAHPS) | 10% | Standardized patient survey: communication, responsiveness, cleanliness, discharge |
Raw scores are normalized to a 0–10 scale against the full national distribution of all Medicare-certified hospitals. Letter grades: A (≥8.0), B (6.5–7.9), C (5.0–6.4), D (3.5–4.9), F (<3.5). A score of 5.0 is the national average — not poor. We do not adjust scores based on hospital requests.
Editorial Standards & Process
- Data sourcing: All metrics are pulled from medicare.gov/care-compare. We do not accept data from hospitals directly.
- Score calculation: Composite scores are computed programmatically across the full national dataset. No manual adjustments to individual scores.
- Editorial review: All content is drafted by Sarah Mitchell and fact-checked by Priya Nair against CDC and CMS guidelines.
- Annual updates: Scores are recalculated each year with the updated CMS Hospital Compare release. Every hospital page shows the data version date.
- Corrections: Factual corrections to hospital contact details are accepted via our contact form. Safety scores are not altered based on hospital requests.
Transparency & Funding
SafeHospitals USA is independently owned and operated. We do not accept sponsorships or paid placements from hospitals, health systems, pharmaceutical companies, or insurers. Site revenue is generated through Google AdSense display advertising only — served automatically with no influence over our editorial content or hospital scores.
Questions or corrections? Email us: editorial@safehospitalsusa.com
Data Sources
All hospital quality data is sourced from the CMS Hospital Compare dataset, available at medicare.gov/care-compare. Supporting sources:
- CDC Healthcare-Associated Infections Program
- AHRQ Patient Safety Indicators
- The Joint Commission — National Patient Safety Goals
- The Leapfrog Group Hospital Safety Grade
Current dataset: 2024 CMS data release, last verified March 15, 2026.