Lown Institute Launches 2025/2026 Hospitals Index

We’re proud to announce the launch of Lown Institute’s 2025/2026 Hospitals Index—a data-rich report that ranks 2,700 acute care hospitals, 800 critical access hospitals, and 300 hospital systems nationwide on social responsibility. This annual release offers a more comprehensive view of hospital performance by measuring metrics often overlooked by traditional rankings, including health equity, value of care, and clinical outcomes. Visitors can explore rankings across more than 50 metrics, compare hospitals side by side, and access downloadable datasets. 

Constructive partnered with the Lown Institute again this year to deliver a digital platform that transforms complex healthcare data into an interactive public resource. We’ve been fortunate to collaborate with the Lown team over the years to bring this essential initiative to life online—and we continue to be inspired by their vision, data transparency, and commitment to health equity.

Key functionality of the index includes: 

• Advanced filtering and comparison tools: Users can filter hospitals by state, city, hospital type, system affiliation, and dozens of metrics, including racial inclusivity and pay equity. 
• User-friendly data visualization: Interactive charts help users explore rankings at a glance, and tooltips provide guidance throughout the experience. 
• Financial assistance module: New for this year’s report, this content explores how hospitals handle medical debt, offer discounted care, and approach collections practices.  
• Download tools: Data is available for public download to support further research and analysis.  

Find out how your hospital system performed on the Lown Index and learn more about our past work with the Lown Institute.

About Lown Institute

The Lown Institute is an independent think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. We envision a healthcare system focused on what’s best for people, like hospitals caring for those most in need, patients living without fear of financial distress, and health professionals finding joy in their roles. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before, like community investment, medical overuse, and CEO pay.

About Constructive

For 25 years, Constructive has partnered with leading nonprofits and social impact organizations, combining the insights of a brand strategy consultancy with the creativity and technical expertise of a digital agency. Learn more about our mission, our work, and our thinking.