HCA HealthONE Aurora named one of the nation's 2026 100 Top Hospitals

HCA HealthONE Aurora has been named one of the nation's 2026 100 Top Hospitals, according to an independent quality analysis conducted by Premier Inc. and published by Modern Healthcare.

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

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

"This recognition reflects the exceptional work of our physicians, nurses and care teams, whose skill, compassion and commitment help us deliver high-quality, patient-centered care every day," said Scott Rausch, chief executive officer of HCA HealthONE Aurora. "Being named one of the nation's 2026 100 Top Hospitals is an honor, and it strengthens our commitment to continue advancing quality, innovation and patient care for the Aurora community and across Colorado."

Earlier in 2026, HCA HealthONE Aurora was also named one of the nation's 50 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals by Premier. In addition, Healthgrades recognized the hospital among America's 100 Best Hospitals and awarded it six Specialty Excellence Awards and 17 five-star ratings in 2026. Healthgrades also named HCA HealthONE Aurora the No. 1 hospital in Colorado for neurosciences and stroke

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 while operating 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' complication-free
• 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 ten performance measures and in every comparison group. Key findings from the study include:

• A 36.8 percent difference in inpatient mortality between benchmark hospitals and peer hospitals nationally
• Small community hospitals showed the largest inpatient mortality difference, with a 49.3 percent improvement compared to peers
• Teaching hospitals demonstrated the largest difference in complications, outperforming peer hospitals by 30 percent
• 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."