Premier Announces the Nation’s 15 Top Health Systems®

May 15, 2025 at 09:05 AM EDT

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) today announced the nation’s 15 Top Health Systems^®.

Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® annual study is the only study that includes a comprehensive analysis of the data supporting the nation’s top performing health systems. Based on the data analyzed, it is estimated that if all health systems performed at the same level as this year’s top performers, more than 171,000 additional lives could have been saved, and more than 336,000 additional patients could have been complication free for the 2025 report year.

To create the list, an objective, quantitative analysis of publicly available data was conducted to identify the top health systems in the U.S. The primary purpose of Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® is to inspire hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value to their patients and communities.

The Performance of Facilities on Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® List

This national study is based on a balanced scorecard that has been utilized for 17 years, and which consists of a variety of measures distributed across four pillars: clinical outcomes, extended outcomes, operational and patient experience. And unlike any other healthcare ranking system, the program is based on performance: Health systems can’t opt in or out and are never asked to pay for inclusion. Data leveraged by the annual study is made publicly available to increase transparency of performance for all health systems.

This year’s analysis compared the study’s top performing health systems to a peer group of similar health systems and found that Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® delivered better outcomes while operating more efficiently. Compared to their peers, this year’s top performers achieved:

22 percent fewer inpatient deaths than peer health systems.
21.6 percent fewer patients with complications.
17.4 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
0.5-day shorter average length of stay.
A better patient experience at top performing hospitals compared to peer hospitals, with a top-box Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score of 71.3 percent versus 68.6 percent at peer health systems.

The annual study provides actionable insights that U.S. health system leaders can use to help guide their performance transformation journey. By highlighting key metrics and areas of success for the highest-performing health systems around the country, Premier helps create aspirational benchmarks for the industry.

“The annual study is more than a list of accomplishments – it is a method that U.S. healthcare leaders can use to help guide their own performance initiatives and identify areas for improvement,” said David Zito, Premier’s President of Performance Services. “Premier celebrates the 15 Top Health Systems^® on their accomplishments and demonstrating positive impacts on patient experience, enterprise operations and clinical outcomes for the enhanced delivery of better, smarter and faster healthcare for all.”

Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® Annual Report aligns with existing Premier solutions. It provides an objective measure of health system performance overall and offers insight into the ability of a system’s member hospitals to deliver consistent top performance across the communities they serve, all based on a national health system scorecard. No other ranking program provides the type of detailed insights, national benchmarks and trend reports as are included in the 15 Top Health Systems^® Annual Report.

Rankings Methodology

Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® annual study is based on clinical outcomes, extended outcomes, operational and patient experience measures that form a balanced scorecard. The data for this Annual Report primarily came from Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare data sets. For complete details, please review the Annual Report here.

The scorecard results are divided into two separate sections that graphically illustrate:

A health system’s performance and improvement versus other peer health systems in the study.
Cross-system performance alignment of system hospitals.

The Annual Report is designed to provide a view of health system performance across multiple dimensions: how they stand compared to peers and high performers (whole-system performance), where they stand in the evolution of their own cultures of performance improvement (relative long-term improvement and rate of improvement), and the achievement of cross-system performance alignment (system hospital performance). For complete methodology details, please review the study here.

Premier’s 15 Top Health Systems^® are determined based on their final scorecard performance. To account for differences in scale among health systems, the report categorizes health systems into three groups: large, medium and small health systems.

This analysis is based on Medicare patients included in this study. If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact could have been even greater.

About Premier

Premier, Inc. (NASDAQ: PINC) is a leading technology-driven healthcare improvement company, providing solutions to two-thirds of all healthcare providers in the U.S. Playing a critical role in the rapidly evolving healthcare industry, Premier unites providers, suppliers, payers and policymakers to make healthcare better with national scale, smarter with actionable intelligence and faster with novel technologies. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Premier offers integrated data and analytics, collaboratives, supply chain solutions, consulting and other services in service of our mission to improve the health of communities. Please visit Premier’s news and investor sites on www.premierinc.com; as well as X, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and Premier’s blog for more information about the company.

Premier, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements

Statements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts, including but not limited to those related to Premier’s ability to advance its business strategies and improve healthcare, and the intended or expected performance or utility of Premier’s products and services, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause performance or achievements to be materially different from historical results or from any future results or projections expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. More information on risks and uncertainties relating to Premier and its products and services is included from time to time in the “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Risk Factors,” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of Premier’s periodic and current filings with the SEC, which are also made available on Premier’s website at investors.premierinc.com. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Premier undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or future events that occur after that date, or otherwise.