UCLA Health: A Leader in Patient Experience and Healthcare Excellence

UCLA Health is consistently recognized as a leader in providing high-quality care, earning accolades and high ratings from various independent publications, accreditation bodies, advocacy groups, and disease-specific organizations. This reputation is built on a foundation of commitment, dedication, and expertise from physicians, nurses, and the entire team of healthcare professionals. UCLA Health's sustained excellence in patient care is a testament to this dedication.

National Recognition and Rankings

UCLA Health has consistently appeared on the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll since the annual assessment debuted in 1990. In the latest rankings, UCLA Health earned a spot on the publication’s Best Hospitals Honor Roll for the 36th consecutive year. This year, the distinction was reserved for only 20 hospitals or health systems among more than 4,400 evaluated across 15 medical specialties and 22 procedures and conditions, marking it as one of the nation's premier healthcare providers. Furthermore, ten UCLA Health specialties placed in the top 10 nationally, including:

Ear, Nose, and Throat (#2)
Pulmonology and Lung Surgery (#4)
Diabetes and Endocrinology (#5)
Ophthalmology (#5)
Psychiatry (#5)
Urology (#7)
Geriatrics (#7)
Gastroenterology/Gastrointestinal Surgery (#8)
Rheumatology (#8)
Orthopedics (#10)

UCLA Health was designated as high performing in all 22 procedures and conditions that were evaluated, including hip and knee replacements, various cancers, diabetes, heart conditions, and stroke.

Newsweek and Statista recognized Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center on the World’s Best Hospitals 2025 list. Both hospitals were named 7-year/all-time champions, as they’ve been recognized every year since the inception of the award.

Accreditations and Designations

UCLA Health's commitment to excellence is further demonstrated through various accreditations and designations:

American College of Surgeons (ACS) Children’s Surgery Verification (CSV) program: UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA Health achieved the highest designation as a Level I institution.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation: UCLA Health received a top score and the designation of “LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality Leader” in an annual assessment.
Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center earned an "A" for the Fall 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.
The Joint Commission: Awarded Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center the maximum three-year accreditation.
The Joint Commission: Certified UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center as a “Primary Stroke Center.”
American College of Surgeons: Designated Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center as the highest-level Trauma Center.
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Emergency Medical Services Agency: Accredited Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center as a ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Heart Attack Receiving Center.
American Heart Association and American Stroke Association: Recognized UCLA with a 2020 Get With the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Award with Honor Roll Elite and Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Achievement and a 2018 Get With the Guidelines Heart Failure Gold Plus Award.
RAC: Granted UCLA Health a Patient-Centered Medical Home accreditation.
Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: Recognized Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with a "baby-friendly" designation in 2017.

Focus on Patient-Centered Care

UCLA Health places a strong emphasis on patient-centered care, recognizing that effectively delivering care that heals and cures, providing quality clinical care, and communicating with care and empathy are essential components of an excellent patient experience.

CI CARE Steps of Communication: Every member of the staff at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is trained with the CI CARE steps of communication.
Patient Experience Rounds: Talking to patients reminds students why they are here.
Support for Compassionate Physicians: UCLA supports the emotional health of its physicians, offering opportunities to debrief on emotionally challenging cases.
Training for New Models of Care: Lean values strive to reduce wasteful tasks that don't improve the delivery of quality care.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is the top hospital for patient satisfaction in Los Angeles, according to HCAHPS survey data released in October. The hospital received four out of five stars, the highest-ranking hospital in the area.

Communicating Patient- and Family-Centered Care

Medicine is changing in more ways than one, with a shift away from productivity measurements and more toward population health and patient-centered care. "We all have a common purpose here, which is to treat patients and families like we would our own family," says Chief Patient Experience Officer Tony Padilla. "We have a standard approach to communication that everyone is expected to follow, whether they are housekeeping staff, physician, nursing or the CEO."

Providing an excellent patient experience consists of three key areas: effectively delivering care that heals and cures, providing quality clinical care and communicating with care and empathy. Students and faculty alike have plenty to explore within these elements.

Training the Next Generation for New Models of Care

Every member of the staff at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is trained with the CI CARE steps of communication. Residents and faculty may receive additional training, as well.

Read also: Navigating Tech Breadth at UCLA

Students who perform rounds with physicians or observe in clinical settings will see this level of communication and focus on patient wellness across every department. Having organized processes throughout the medical center and health system, however, helps to provide patients with a more seamless care experience. This is where Lean methodology comes in. Lean values strive to reduce wasteful tasks that don't improve the delivery of quality care, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and Padilla observes more and more physicians are trained in these techniques. Naturally, it's a great avenue for medical students to pursue as well.

"If it's not forthcoming, medical students should seek out Lean training," Padilla says. "Physicians will be expected even more in the future to contribute to improving hospital and health-system processes."

Supporting Compassionate Physicians

Another key aspect of patient-centered care is having compassionate providers. Most students enter medical school excited about the possibilities when helping people. It's easy to lose this initial interest as they get caught up in textbooks or overwhelmed by training.

To maintain that enthusiasm and passion, Padilla encourages students to seek opportunities to participate in patient-experience rounds. Talking to patients reminds students why they are here.

Medicine is an emotionally demanding job, and UCLA supports the emotional health of its physicians just as much as their performance. This is a big contributor to high patient-satisfaction scores, as well. Physician burnout and fatigue are well-documented phenomena, for which Padilla says the health system offers opportunities to debrief on emotionally challenging cases. Doctors can share their experiences with one another, gain new insight and vent their concerns in a safe environment.

Read also: Understanding UCLA Counselors

"We encourage all our physicians to take care of themselves and provide safe places for them to talk about challenges or struggles," Padilla says.

Each of these elements working together is the source of excellence in the region surrounding the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Maternity Care Ratings

UCLA Health is committed to providing excellent maternity care, as reflected in the following measures:

Cesarean Birth Rate: This measure reflects the percentage of cesarean births among mothers whose pregnancies were nulliparous, term, singleton, and vertex (NTSV).
Breastfeeding Rate: This measure shows the percentage of newborns that were breastfed during their hospital stay.
Episiotomy Rate: This measure reflects the number of episiotomies performed on women delivering vaginally at the hospital.
VBAC Routinely Available: This measure indicates whether a hospital has a policy of allowing “Vaginal Birth after Cesarean” (VBAC).
VBAC Rate: A Vaginal Birth after Cesarean section (“VBAC”) is when a woman who has had a prior C-section delivers vaginally in a subsequent pregnancy.
Deliveries by Certified Nurse Midwives: This statistic represents the percent of births at each hospital that were attended by Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs).

The ratings reflect the 2024 calendar year hospital discharge and birth certificate data from 199 California hospitals that offer maternity services and participate in the CMQCC’s MDC. These 199 hospitals submitted data to the CMQCC Maternal Data Center to enable rapid-cycle reporting and quality improvement.

Workplace and Culture

UCLA Health's commitment to its employees is evident in its recognition as one of America’s Best Large Employers by Forbes in 2024 and 2025. Forbes also named UCLA Health as one of America's Dream Employers for 2025. Newsweek recognized UCLA Health as one of America's 100 Most Loved Workplaces in 2024.

Johnese Spisso, President, UCLA Health and CEO, UCLA Hospital System, has been recognized on Becker’s Hospital Review's 2024 list of "Great Healthcare Leaders to Know" for healthcare innovation, inclusivity, access to quality care and the transformation of the healthcare system.

Faculty, Residents, Physicians, and Staff Receive Training on Compassionate Communication and Are Expected to Treat All Patients Like Their Own Family

Patient Experience Ratings

Patient experience is a critical aspect of healthcare quality, and UCLA Health is dedicated to providing a positive and supportive environment for patients. Patient experience ratings are based on surveys given to patients after leaving the hospital. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey is required of most hospitals and asks patients to rate their hospital stay. Each hospital receives an overall score in each category.

Key areas of patient experience include:

Overall Satisfaction: How the patient felt about their hospital stay and discharge overall.
Willingness to Recommend: Willingness of patients to recommend this hospital to others.
Hospital Facility
Communication:
Patient Safety
Listens to Patients

Healthgrades recognized UCLA Health with the 2023 and 2021 Outstanding Patient Experience Award.

Socioeconomic Representation in Access to Care

UCLA Health is committed to providing equitable access to care for all members of the community. This includes:

Representation of low-income patients treated at the hospital: How well Medicaid patients are represented in the population treated by the hospital.
Representation of people from vulnerable neighborhoods: The percentage of patients treated by the hospital who live in more disadvantaged neighborhoods, based on the Area Deprivation Index.
Demographic Representation: The percentage of patients treated by the hospital for elective procedures compared to the community.
Representation of non-white patients
Representation of Black patients
Representation of Asian American and Pacific Islander patients
Representation of Hispanic patients
Representation of Native American patients

Research and Innovation

Patients benefit from UCLA Health’s standing as a comprehensive academic medical system, where physicians and scientists work together to research new ways to diagnose and treat diseases. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA received funding totaling $303 million from the National Institutes of Health in 2016. Vizient awarded UCLA Health the 2024 Ambulatory Quality and Accountability Award, a top recognition that measures the quality of outpatient care in five domains: access to care, continuum of care, quality, efficiency, and equity.

tags: #UCLA #Health #patient #experience #ratings