Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades earned by HCA HealthONE

Denver, Colo. - HCA HealthONE, as a part of HCA Healthcare, announced this week that three of its hospitals received a 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award from Healthgrades for its commitment to safe, patient-centered care. This recognition is given to the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for patient safety. HCA HealthONE Aurora, HCA HealthONE Sky Ridge, and HCA HealthONE Swedish are among the esteemed list of hospitals nationwide that were acknowledged.

"This recognition from Healthgrades is a powerful affirmation of our unwavering commitment to patient safety and clinical excellence," said Dr. Mike Reitz, chief medical officer of HCA HealthONE. "Our physicians, nurses and care teams work tirelessly to ensure every patient receives safe, high-quality, compassionate care. Patient safety is not a single initiative, rather it is embedded in our culture, guided by evidence-based practices and strengthened through collaboration across our hospitals."

Patient Safety Excellence Awards are based exclusively on patient outcomes. Healthgrades evaluated risk-adjusted complication and mortality rates from approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide to determine this year's list.

Earlier this year, four HCA HealthONE hospitals were also named on the 2026 Healthgrades America's 100 Best Hospitals list for being within the top 2% of hospitals in the country for clinical excellence. Also based on patient outcomes, these lists recognize superior performance in providing care for conditions and procedures across multiple specialty lines and areas.

HCA Healthcare supports a culture in which patient safety is embedded in everyday care delivery. For more than a decade, the organization has operated a federally listed Patient Safety Organization (PSO) that partners with hospitals to strengthen clinical processes, advance evidence-based safety practices and facilitate enterprise-wide learning. Insights gained across facilities are systematically shared to promote consistency, advance adoption of proven practices and enhance the reliability of care across the organization.

In 2024, HCA Healthcare added to this work through a structured implementation of the National Action Plan to Advance Patient Safety. Multidisciplinary teams of hospital leaders, physicians and frontline clinicians completed facility-level assessments of safety culture and patient safety systems and used that data to align local improvement efforts with enterprise goals, reinforce capability and sustain progress toward key safety priorities.

HCA Healthcare has a long history of advancing patient safety through collaboration with leading public and private institutions. Through research initiatives like REDUCE MRSA, ABATE, Swap Out, CLUSTER and INSPIRE the organization continues to contribute to evidence-based practices that advance infection prevention and strengthen the safety and reliability of care for patients.