HOUSTON – September 8, 2025 – The Houston Business Coalition on Health (HBCH), a nonprofit with a mission to improve the cost, quality, and consumer experience for healthcare, launched the Houston Region Hospital Report Cards to help patients find the safest, highest-quality and best priced hospitals when seeking care and for employers when purchasing healthcare benefits.
The online resource provides a dashboard view for 53 hospitals across the greater metropolitan area with report card grades given for safety, quality, and financial metrics.
“This free resource is a much needed step toward transparency,” said Chris Skisak, PhD, executive director for HBCH. “When safety, quality and price information is reported openly, employers and employees can choose the highest value hospitals, rather than making decisions in the dark or based purely on reputation.”
The report cards are meant to be used by employers and other healthcare purchasers in partnership with their benefits consultants and health plan representatives. Together they can design a benefits plan that incents the use of high-value hospitals (best quality at the best price).
The safety and quality data are derived from three sources – the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade and the Leapfrog Hospital Survey from The Leapfrog Group, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star Rating. Financial metrics such as price paid by employers compared to Medicare pricing, commercial operating profit margin, and commercial breakeven – the amount employers need to pay for a hospital to cover its operating expenses, are derived from the latest National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) Hospital Cost Tool and the RAND Hospital Price Transparency Study.
Report cards are available for many of the hospitals in the following systems:
- HCA Healthcare (12 hospitals received report cards)
- Houston Methodist (7)
- Houston Physicians’ Hospital (1)
- Memorial Hermann (12)
- MidCoast Medical Center Bellville (1)
- Oakbend Medical Center (2)
- St. Joseph Medical Center (1)
- St. Luke’s Health (7)
- Texas Children’s Hospital (4)
- Texas orthopedic Hospital (1)
- Townsen Memorial (1)
- University of Texas Medical Branch (4)
About Houston Business Coalition on Health
The non-profit Houston Business Coalition on Health is the leading resource for Houston employers and their health services providers dedicated to providing health benefits at a sustainable cost while improving the quality and employee experience of their delivery through effective benefits design. With 60 members, HBCH represents 250,000 Houston employer-sponsored lives, 500,000 in Texas, and more than 1 million nationwide. HBCH a member of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions. For additional information visit our website houstonbch.org and follow on LinkedIn.
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