Northwell’s Mather Hospital is the recipients of the 2026 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ reflecting on sustained excellence in patient-centered care, safety, and clinical quality.
Mather Hospital earned a rare “triple crown” of 2026 Healthgrades honors, receiving the Outstanding Patient Experience Award™, Patient Safety Excellence Award™, and America’s 250 Best Hospitals Award™. Mather is receiving the Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the sixth consecutive year and has earned a place among America’s 250 Best Hospitals for the fourth time, further demonstrating a long-standing track record of clinical excellence.
“These awards reflect years of intentional work to align every aspect of care around the patient,” said, Kevin McGeachy, FACHE, President, Mather Hospital. “We have built a culture where listening to patients, improving communication, strengthening safety practices, and ensuring compassionate care are part of every interaction, every day.”
Mather is the only hospital in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to receive all three distinctions in 2026, and one of only 16 hospitals nationwide to achieve this level of recognition.
The Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ is based on a rigorous national evaluation of patient feedback, not self-nomination. For the 2026 analysis, Healthgrades reviewed Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data from nearly 4,000 U.S. hospitals.
Hospitals must meet strict eligibility criteria, including minimum patient survey volumes submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and exclusion of hospitals in the bottom 20% of overall clinical quality.
Hospitals are evaluated across 10 patient experience domains, including communication with doctors and nurses, responsiveness of staff, medication explanations, discharge information, cleanliness, quietness, and overall hospital rating. Only hospitals performing in the top 15% nationally based on patient-reported experience data receive the award.
Achieving both the Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ and the Patient Safety Excellence Award™ requires sustained high performance in both patient experience measures and independently assessed clinical safety outcomes.
Healthgrades evaluate nearly 4,000 hospitals annually using CMS patient experience survey data and nationally standardized clinical performance metrics. The Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ recognizes hospitals in the top 15% nationwide based on patient-reported experience across 10 domains. Additional Healthgrades awards evaluate clinical outcomes, complication rates, and patient safety performance.
For more information and to learn more about how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and view the Outstanding Patient Experience Award Methodology click here.
About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 249-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather received its third top five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings in two medical specialties of gastroenterology and GI surgery and pulmonology and lung surgery, and for congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and pneumonia. Mather also was named one of America’s 250 best hospitals for 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 by Healthgrades and in 2026 received Healthgrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the sixth consecutive year. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacy residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About Northwell Health
Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 106,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.