What Are the Highest and Lowest Ranked Hospitals in Mississippi?

Choosing the right hospital for your medical care is vital—if you decide to go to a hospital that is poorly ranked, it’s likely unsanitary, is understaffed, doesn’t perform medical tasks well, or a combination of any of these shortcomings. That’s why it’s important to know if the hospital you’re choosing is ranked high or low in your state.

It’s important to mention that rankings could vary—depending on the criteria used or what information a company is gathering, they might rank hospitals differently in the state. However, for the most part, variations on the best and worst aren’t going to be that drastic.

Let’s take a look at the highest and lowest ranked hospitals in Mississippi so you know who to choose for your medical care in our state.

Highest Ranked Hospitals in Mississippi

One of the most trusted nonprofits in evaluating the safety of a hospital is The Leapfrog Group. They release grades for hospitals based on information we’ll talk about below so you can better understand where these evaluations come from and what data was used to come to these conclusions.

In fall of 2021, The Leapfrog Group released this chart ranking hospitals from A to D. Currently, these are the hospitals in Mississippi with an A grading, which makes them the highest ranked hospitals in our state:

• Baptist Memorial Hospital of Booneville
• Baptist Memorial Hospital of North Mississippi in Oxford
• Baptist Memorial Hospital Golden Triangle in Columbus
• Baptist Memorial Hospital of Union County in New Albany
• George Regional Hospital in Lucedale
• King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven
• Merit Health Madison in Canton
• Methodist Olive Branch Hospital
• Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson
• North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo
• Ocean Springs Hospital
• Oschner Medical Center Hancock in Bay Saint Louis
• Singing River Gulfport
• Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula

As the best hospitals in the state, you’ll likely receive great care. However, there’s always the possibility of a mistake or medical error occurring. It’s important to stay vigilant and involved in your care so you can identify medical malpractice and take action right away.

Let’s take a look at some hospitals where you might want to avoid, or where you could potentially experience more cases of medical malpractice.

Lowest Ranked Hospitals in Mississippi

Now that you know the highest ranked hospitals in Mississippi, you should know the lowest. Being aware of this list can keep you from choosing these hospitals for your care. If you’re unable to avoid these hospitals because they’re the only one in your area, insurance reasons, or any other reason, then you should know to be aware of your care and potentially keep a journal to document your experiences in case you need a record later.

Only one hospital in Mississippi received a D grade:

• Merit Health Biloxi

These hospitals received C ratings, which aren’t bad, but aren’t great either:

• Anderson Regional Medical Center North in Meridian
• Baptist Memorial Hospital DeSoto in Southaven
• Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg
• Highland Community Hospital in Picayune
• Memorial Hospital at Gulfport
• Merit Health Central in Jackson
• Merit Health Rankin in Brandon
• Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood
• Merit Health River Region in Vicksburg
• Merit Health Wesley in Hattiesburg
• North Mississippi Medical Center Eupora
• North Mississippi Medical Center West Point
• Rush Foundation Hospital in Meridian
• South Central Regional Medical Center in Laurel
• South Sunflower County Hospital in Inianola
• Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in McComb
• Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson
• University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson
• Wayne General Hospital in Waynesboro

While a C grade isn’t necessarily bad, it definitely has room for improvement. These C and D grade hospitals aren’t giving high-level care and could be taking too long to treat, poorly treating, failing to keep their facility clean, or committing malpractice.

If you’ve been to a hospital with a poor rating—or one with a high ranking—and experienced a medical error that injured you, then you could use the help of a medical malpractice attorney. If that harm happened in Ocean Springs, then our Oceans Springs medical malpractice lawyer could help you get justice for what you experienced.

Before talking more about that, let’s take a look at the grading process of these hospitals so you can be well-informed.

What Goes into Hospital Rankings?

Formerly known as the Hospital Safety Score, The Leapfrog Group is the most trusted report when it comes to hospital safety. They evaluate hospitals based on many factors and compile that information into a letter score.  The letter grade represents the hospital’s ability and performance in keeping their patients safe from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

The group chooses a panel of lead doctors—some from Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt—and this panel identifies points in patient care that effectively evaluate a hospital’s overall performance. There are currently 22 measures they evaluate that are data points they use as evidence to determine a hospital’s rating.

These measures are further categorized into two distinctions: Process and Structural Measures and Outcome Measures. Process and Structure Measures represent how a hospital staff performs tasks and the environment of the hospital itself. Outcome Measures are more geared toward how the patient is treated and what level of care they receive.

Once each measure is evaluated, the panel creates a letter grade based on their scale. The intention of this evaluation is to inform patients so they know where to receive care, but also to give the hospitals a third-party evaluation so they can improve their facilities.

Corban Gunn, Attorney at Law Will Stand Up for You

Experiencing medical malpractice is devastating—you trusted a doctor to take care of you, but instead they left you with more injuries and damages than when you began. If can be hard to trust again after a situation like that. At Corban Gunn, Attorney at Law, we understand how you’re feeling.

That’s why our Ocean Springs medical malpractice lawyer is dedicated to keeping you fully informed and making you feel comfortable in every step of the legal process. We understand you want justice and want to get your life back on track. We’re here to do just that while ensuring you feel safe.

Reach out to our office today so we can discuss your legal options.