The University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center in Iowa City continues to hold a spot among the top hospitals in the United States for multiple specialties.
U.S. News & World Report released its 37th annual ranking of the best hospitals across the nation after evaluating nearly 4,500 hospitals across dozens of specialties, procedures and conditions. Only 16% of evaluated hospitals earned a Best Hospitals designation.
What is the top hospital in Iowa?
U.S. News & World Report ranked the UI Health Care Medical Center the number one hospital in Iowa. Here are the specialities it ranked nationally in:
UI Health also had 14 specialties designated as “High-Performing,” a label given to hospitals that are significantly better than the national average in a given procedure or condition. Hospitals named as a High Performing hospital have earned the highest distinction a hospital can earn for U.S. News’ Best Hospitals Procedures & Conditions ratings:
The report changed its methodology in 2026 to highlight 505 Best Regional Hospitals. It now has additional rankings for different regions in four areas:
UI Health Care Medical Center ranked first in the state for cancer and orthopedics using this new system.
How did Des Moines hospitals rank?
No other hospitals in Iowa were nationally ranked for any specialties.
In Des Moines, MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center and UnityPoint Iowa Methodist Medical Center each were ranked “high-performing” in seven categories.
MercyOne is high performing in:
UnityPoint is high performing in:
How did U.S. News & World Report make its Best Hospitals ranking?
U.S. News analyzes each hospital’s performance based on measures such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and patient experience. Data is drawn from more than 800 million records of patient care.
The outlet gave risk-adjusted outcome measure more weight in 2026. The way the cardiology, heart and vascular surgery speciality is ranked also changed.
Des Moines Register reporter Cooper Worth contributed to this article.
Lucia Cheng is a service and trending reporter at the Des Moines Register. Contact her at lcheng@gannett.com or 515-284-8132.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa’s top-ranked hospital earns national recognition in 2 fields
Reporting by Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Lucia Cheng, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
