BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) has been ranked by the Lown Institute Hospital Index (2025–2026) as Vermont's No. 1 acute care hospital in the areas of patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, community benefit, pay equity, and racial inclusivity.
BMH also received five A grades that were awarded to hospitals rated among the top performers in the United States in the categories of health equity, patient satisfaction, community benefit, pay equity, and avoiding overuse.
BMH placed in the top 10 percent of all U.S. hospitals in the areas of pay equity, racial inclusivity, avoiding overuse, and patient satisfaction.
The Lown Institute Hospital Index, now in its sixth year, is a project of The Lown Institute, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit healthcare think tank named after the pioneering cardiologist and social activist Dr. Bernard Lown. Hospitals do not apply or pay to be listed.
"We are incredibly proud to be recognized as leaders in social responsibility and in other areas that make a real difference in the healthcare experiences of our patients and in the professional lives of our employees," Christopher Dougherty, BMH's president and chief executive officer, said in a news release. "It is particularly rewarding to stand out in a state like Vermont where all of our hospitals are doing great work to achieve health equity, promote fairness, control costs, and give back to the communities we serve."
The Index evaluates hospitals on more than 50 measures including novel metrics such as community benefit, racial inclusivity, and avoidance of overuse. Data sources include Medicare fee-for-service and Medicare Advantage claims, CMS patient safety data and hospital cost reports, and IRS 990 forms, among others.
"When you talk about health equity and eliminating health disparities, you're also talking about taking a sound financial approach to the delivery of healthcare," said Dougherty. "We cannot put downward pressure on rising healthcare costs by placing medical services out of reach for certain people.
"Increasing access to healthcare often means meeting people where they are with compassion and without judgment. And by doing that we actually take pressure off the larger system while controlling costs and giving the entire community a chance to thrive."
Founded in 1904, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is a licensed, 61-bed, not-for-profit community hospital located in southeastern Vermont, serving a rural population of about 55,000 people in 22 towns in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
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