Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center Achieves 2026 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award Three Years in a Row

CARMICHAEL, CA, March 10, 2026 – March 10, 2026 – Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center announced today that it has achieved the 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award™ from Healthgrades, the #1 site Americans use to find a doctor or hospital. This award reflects Mercy San Juan’s commitment to safe, patient-centered care and puts the organization in the top 10% of hospitals nationwide for patient safety for a third year in a row.

Alongside this national recognition for patient safety, Dignity Health Mercy San Juan has also earned numerous accolades for its exceptional performance in key service areas. These include the Critical Care Excellence Award (2024, 2025, 2026), the Gastrointestinal Surgery Excellence Award (2026), and the Pulmonary Care Excellence Award (2026). These achievements further underscore the organization’s commitment to delivering compassionate, individualized care at every step of the patient journey.

“We are incredibly proud to receive the Healthgrades 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award for the third consecutive year,” said Austin Manning, President and CEO of Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center. “This, along with our other Excellence Awards in Critical Care, Gastroenterology, and Pulmonary, is a testament to the dedication and hard work of every single member of our team. Their commitment to vigilance, innovation, and compassion ensures that our patients receive the safest and highest quality care possible, every single day.”

Mercy San Juan Medical Center’s achievement is based solely on what matters most: patient outcomes. To determine the national leaders in patient safety, Healthgrades evaluated risk-adjusted complication and mortality rates from approximately 4,500 hospitals nationwide across 13 patient safety indicators (PSIs), with each PSI representing a serious, preventable complication.

“Patient safety is the foundation of everything we do,” said Dr. Vimal Mishra, Chief Medical Officer at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. “This recognition reflects the extraordinary commitment of our physicians, nurses, and care teams who continuously work to improve systems, learn from every experience, and ensure that every patient receives the safest care possible.”

Healthgrades’ annual analysis revealed significant performance gaps between the nation’s highest-and lowest-achieving facilities, making it increasingly important for consumers to seek care at a hospital with top safety ratings. During the 2022-2024 study period, 167,228 preventable safety events occurred among Medicare patients at U.S. hospitals, with four PSIs accounting for nearly 78% of all incidents.

Patients treated at Mercy San Juan and other award-winning facilities had a profoundly lower risk of experiencing these leading complications:

• In-hospital fall resulting in fracture (52.4% less likely)
• Collapsed lung due to a procedure in or around the chest (57.5% less likely)
• Catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired in the hospital (67.8% less likely)
• Pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital (71.9% less likely) 

“The data behind this year’s Patient Safety Excellence Award highlights how measurable improvements in safety can prevent thousands of complications,” said Dr. Alana Biggers, MPH, medical advisor at Healthgrades. “By prioritizing evidence-based safety practices, Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center is achieving better clinical outcomes and cultivating a culture where patients come first.”

Where you’re treated matters, which is why Healthgrades is committed to providing the most scientifically accurate information about doctors and hospitals–with data insights not available anywhere else. For additional guidance on finding safe, high-quality care in 2026, visit healthgrades.com.

*Statistics are calculated from Healthgrades’ Patient Safety Excellence Award Methodology, which is based primarily on AHRQ technical specifications (Version 2025.0.1) to MedPAR data from approximately 4,500 hospitals for years 2022 through 2024 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

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About Dignity Health California

Dignity Health California is a nonprofit network of over 9000 physicians, more than 35,000 employees, 29 acute care hospitals, and 200-plus care-centers, including community hospitals, urgent care, surgery and imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. Dignity Health California provides award-winning care to communities in five primary markets across the state: North State, Sacramento, Central Valley, Central Coast, and Southern California.

Dignity Health is a member of CommonSpirit Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit Catholic healthcare organizations, dedicated to providing compassionate, high-quality, and affordable patient-centered care with special attention to the poor and underserved. Learn more at DignityHealth.org and CommonSpirit.org.

About Healthgrades

Healthgrades is dedicated to empowering meaningful connections between patients, doctors, and hospitals. As the #1 platform for finding a doctor and a leader in healthcare transparency, we help millions of consumers each month find and schedule appointments with their healthcare professional of choice and prepare for their appointments with best-in-class, treatment-focused content. 

For over 20 years, our health system, group practice, and life sciences marketing solutions have helped our partners reach and engage consumers on their way to the doctor.

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