14 Long Island hospitals get top federal ratings; 1 again ranks among nation's lowest

Fourteen hospitals on Long Island received the top grade for their quality of care, according to an annual federal report released Wednesday. 

The hospitals represent more than half of the Long Island healthcare centers rated on a five-star scale by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which provides healthcare to millions of Americans.

Three hospitals received four stars and one hospital, Nassau University Medical Center, received one star. 

CMS rates more than 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals across the United States on their mortality rates, safety, speed, effectiveness and a patient’s experience and readmission rates, according to the agency. Nationally, just 12% of hospitals achieve a five-star rating.

CMS’ star system has “one of the highest levels of rigor” of hospital data nationwide, said Kathy Rauch, the vice president of quality advocacy, research and innovation and post-acute care at the Healthcare Association of New York State, which represents health systems and hospitals. Federal data helps inform other ratings systems, such as Healthgrades and Leapfrog, Newsday reported.

These ratings can help Long Islanders make a decision about where to get care, hospital executives and experts said. They're also a powerful marketing tool, said Vikas Saini, president of the Needham, Massachusetts-based Lown Institute, a health policy think tank that has its own ratings system.

But many patients may not even be aware of the federal data, or have much choice in what hospital to attend, Saini added. 

“The number of people who both have the time and the circumstances of their illness to allow them to do this [research] — that's a very small number,” Saini said.

Long Island’s report card

Four Long Island hospitals in Northwell Health’s network got five-star ratings: Glen Cove, Huntington, Mather and Manhasset-based North Shore University hospitals.

Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park and Plainview Hospital, also Northwell Hospitals, received four stars. 

“The fact that we have so many five star hospitals out of that group is really phenomenal,” said Peter Silver, chief quality officer and a senior vice president for Northwell Health.

Four hospitals in the Catholic Health's network got five stars: St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center in Flower Hill Village, St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown and Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre.

St. Charles, St. Catherine and Mercy all moved up from four stars last year, said Jason Golbin, chief medical officer at Catholic Health.

CMS rates NYU Langone's Manhattan, Brooklyn and Mineola hospitals together, and the trio got five stars. NYU Langone Hospital— Suffolk in East Patchogue received four stars — a jump from two stars a year ago, according to CMS data.

The East Patchogue hospital was previously Long Island Community Hospital, which completed a merger with Langone in 2025, Newsday reported.

The network has invested more than $100 million in the hospital, said Dr. Marc Adler, senior vice president and chief of hospital operations for NYU Langone Hospital —Suffolk. It also increased its staff by 16% since the March 2025 merger, growing to more than 2,400 employees, according to the health system. 

Stony Brook University's three hospitals on Long Island in Stony Brook, Greenport and Southampton, which CMS rates together, also received five stars, up from four stars last year. It’s the first time the healthcare system has received five stars, said Dr. Eric J. Morley, the chief quality officer for Stony Brook University Hospital. 

Nassau University Medical Center was the only Long Island hospital to score a one-star rating, the same as last year, according to CMS data. NUMC has faced serious financial troubles, losing money all but one year from 2000 to 2024, Newsday reported. It temporarily paused most services for pregnant women earlier this month. 

In a statement, NUMC CEO Thomas Stokes said the data, collected in 2024, does not reflect the new leadership at NUMC.

"Since assuming leadership, our team has taken decisive steps to strengthen patient safety, quality, and operational performance across the organization — progress that will take time to be reflected in external ratings," Stokes said in a statement.

CMS’ review website Care Compare lets users drill down into a hospital’s practices — such as emergency department wait times, infection rates from specific surgeries and death rates for certain conditions.

But patients also need to examine what their insurance will cover and what their doctor recommends, said Janine Logan, vice president of communication and population health for the Suburban Hospital Alliance of New York State. The regional trade group represents hospitals on the Island and in the Hudson Valley.

A PR boost for hospitals

Ratings can help a hospital bolster a hospital’s reputation, and hospital networks will “leverage whatever they get in marketing campaigns” to attract patients, Saini said.

A 2009 study in the Journal of Health Economics found that a change in a hospital’s ranking corresponded with a roughly 5% change in patient volume.

Bad ratings can push hospitals to improve care, said Patricia Kelmar, senior director of healthcare campaigns for the Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit.

“The value is also how hospital executives think about preventing harm in a hospital setting,” Kelmar said. “The last thing they want is their hospital to have a bad star rating.”