In a win for consumers who expect the highest quality of health care close to home, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City has earned international recognition for excellence.
Newsweek magazine named Mercy the only facility in Oklahoma City to rank among the World’s Best Hospitals, recognizing it for its ongoing commitment to high-quality care, patient experience and clinical excellence among top-tier hospitals worldwide.
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City was one of only four Oklahoma hospitals to make the list, and this year is its third consecutive time to be recognized in the global rankings.
“The compassionate care patients receive from our caregivers is what makes Mercy special and why they trust us with their lives,” said Bennett Geister, president of Mercy Oklahoma City Communities. “The recognition that comes with being on this list is a direct result of how our caregivers go about their work. I’m so proud to see them recognized on a global scale.”
Newsweek partners with Statista to analyze four types of data sources to select and rank the best hospitals in 32 countries with comparable data. The methodology included recommendations from medical experts; patient satisfaction surveys; hospital quality metrics on quality of care, hygiene, patient safety and waiting times; and an optional Statista patient-reported outcome measures survey.
The World’s Best Hospitals 2026 ranking includes hospitals from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. The countries were selected based on multiple comparability factors, such as standard of living/life expectancy, population size, number of hospitals and data availability.
Newsweek also named three other Mercy hospitals among the World’s Best Hospitals, including Northwest Arkansas, St. Louis and Springfield.
The World’s Best Hospitals 2026 rankings are available on newsweek.com. In addition to the Newsweek ranking, the award-winning Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Top Hospitals, and it received an A grade for safety from The Leapfrog Group.
Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City has been named one of the World’s Best Hospitals for three straight years.
Mercy Kingfisher and Watonga Named Top Critical Access Hospitals
Mercy Hospital Kingfisher has once again been named one of rural America’s best hospitals.The Chartis Center for Rural Health named the hospital to its annual list of the 100 top performing critical access hospitals across the U.S.
“Critical access hospitals have such a deep connection to the people in the communities we serve,” said Dustin Yowell, Mercy Hospital Kingfisher administrator. “When you’re in our care, you’re in the care of your neighbors and you’re close to your friends and family. It’s an honor to be caregivers to our neighbors, and being on the Chartis list is a reflection of how seriously we take our compassionate care.”
Rural hospitals deliver essential, often lifesaving care to communities that would otherwise face long travel times, limited access to specialists and significant health disparities.
Mercy Hospital Watonga also made the list, along with Mercy Hospital Berryville and Mercy Hospital Paris in Arkansas. Mercy Hospital Ardmore, and Mercy Hospital Washington in Missouri, made the Chartis list for the 100 top performing rural hospitals.
A critical access hospital is a small rural facility designated by Medicare to improve access to care, capped at 25 inpatient beds and required to maintain 24/7 emergency services, while a community hospital provides a broad range of general medical services to the local population. Each hospital on Chartis’ Top 100 lists has demonstrated consistently strong patient outcomes, high operational efficiency and resilience in the face of unique geographic and economic challenges.
“The delivery of care within rural communities is more complex today than at any point in recent memory,” said Michael Topchik, executive director of The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “This year’s Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals and Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals have emerged as true leaders who are committed to their mission through a powerful combination of resilience, dedication and innovation. We’re delighted to recognize this year’s winners and celebrate their Top 100 status.”
The Chartis awards are based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX, which recognizes outstanding performance among the nation’s rural hospitals. Now in its 16th year, the INDEX is the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. Leveraging a methodology that uses publicly available data, the INDEX is used nationwide by rural hospitals, health systems with rural affiliates, hospital associations, and state offices of rural health to measure and monitor performance across a variety of areas impacting hospital operations, quality, patient perspective and finance.
Mercy Hospital Kingfisher is a 25-bed hospital, offering swing beds, an intensive care unit and other critical health care services to local patients. Read more about it on the Mercy Hospital Kingfisher website on mercy.net.
Mercy Hospital Watonga is a 25-bed hospital, offering swing beds, therapy and other critical health care services to local patients. Read more about it on the Mercy Hospital Watonga website on mercy.net.
