Fort Myers, Sarasota and Tampa hospitals gain Forbes' recognition

Nine hospitals in the region were listed among Florida’s best on a recent ranking by Forbes magazine’s 2026 Top Hospitals survey.

The hospitals on the list — more than 5,400 were considered initially, the magazine says, and 762 were chosen, with 29 in Florida — from the region include: 

• AdventHealth Wesley Chapel 
• AdventHealth Zephyrhills
• HCA Florida Doctors Hospital in Sarasota
• Lakewood Ranch Medical Center 
• Lee Memorial Health in Fort Myers
• Mease Dunedin Hospital in Pinellas County
• Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s main campus in Sarasota
• SMH's Venice campus 
• St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa

It was the first year Forbes compiled such a list, which totaled 253 facilities with five-star rankings and 509 with four-star rankings. Hospitals in the region with five stars are: SMH-Sarasota, AdventHealth Zephyrhills and Lee Health. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

“We are honored to be recognized as a 2026 Top Hospitals by Forbes,” Lakewood Ranch Medical Center CEO Rob Anderson says in a release. “This distinction reflects the dedication and expertise of our entire care team who strive daily to provide exceptional, patient-centered care. 

Forbes says its main focus was on clinical patient outcomes.

“These measures were given the most weight and, therefore, had the most influence on each hospital’s overall rating,'' the magazine wrote. "Additionally, these outcomes were statistically adjusted for social drivers of health (SDOH)—such as socioeconomics and access to medical services—because SDOH have been shown to impact outcomes. By adjusting for these factors in the communities surrounding each hospital, our ratings were designed to provide a more level comparison of each hospital’s quality, despite differences among hospitals’ locations and patient populations.”

This article originally appeared on sister site YourObserver.com.