HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital named one of the nation’s 2026 100 Top Hospitals by Modern Healthcare and Premier

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital Breese was identified as one of the nation’s 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 the top-performing hospitals in the United States.

The program is designed to help healthcare leaders pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities by providing transparent, nonbiased benchmarks and actionable insights.

HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital Breese colleagues celebrate their hospital’s recognition as one of the nation’s 2026 100 Top Hospitals by Modern Healthcare and Premier, Inc., including St. Joseph’s Hospital Chief Administrative Officer Mandi Ennen (far left) and Michael Janis, HSHS Southern Illinois Market Chief Operating Officer (third from right) along with other market and hospital leaders.

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

“I couldn’t be more pleased and honored for our hospital being recognized as one of the 100 Top Hospitals in the U.S.,” said Mandi Ennen, HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital’s Chief Administrative Officer. “It truly takes a team to achieve this recognition, and we have a superb, dedicated team of physicians, colleagues and volunteers who give their heart and soul to this work. This achievement reflects our commitment to our community, delivering high-quality care, an exceptional patient experience, operational excellence and a strong, stable future."

This accolade comes on the heels of HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital being named one of the top 20 rural and community hospitals in the country by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) for the second year in a row. The NRHA names the 20 highest-ranked prospective payment system (PPS) hospitals in the country based on an evaluation by the Chartis Center for Rural Health.

The hospitals are identified using the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, the most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural PPS hospital performance.

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 10 performance measures and in every comparison group.

Key findings from the study include:

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