Mercy Repeats as Top U.S. Health System for Patient Experience
Event summary
- Mercy earned NRC Health's 2026 Excellence in Patient Experience Award for the fifth consecutive year.
- Only three large U.S. health systems received the designation in 2026.
- Award based on feedback from 1.25 million patient encounters annually.
- Mercy operates 55 hospitals and 1,000 physician practice locations across five states.
The big picture
Mercy's repeated recognition highlights the growing importance of patient experience as a competitive differentiator in healthcare. As value-based care models expand, health systems with consistently high satisfaction scores may gain advantages in reimbursement and market share. Mercy's scale—55 hospitals and 50,000 caregivers—makes this achievement particularly notable in an industry facing workforce challenges.
What we're watching
- Sustainability of Quality
- Whether Mercy can maintain this level of patient experience as healthcare labor markets tighten.
- Competitive Differentiation
- How this recognition impacts Mercy's market position against other large health systems.
- Operational Scaling
- The pace at which Mercy can expand its high-quality care model across its growing network.