Dr. Alana Biggers of Healthgrades on access, shopping around and second opinions

Only a select group of hospitals earn recognition from Healthgrades as the top hospitals.

Healthgrades released its list of the 2026 America’s Best Hospitals Awards. Healthgrades named the top 50, top 100 and top 250 hospitals.

Dr. Alana Biggers, the medical adviser for Healthgrades, spoke with Chief Healthcare Executive® about the top hospitals, shopping around for care, and changes in patients.

Healthgrades notes that almost half of all Americans live more than 25 miles from one of the top 250 hospitals. Roughly 5% of hospitals examined by Healthgrades rank among the top 250.

As Healthgrades looked at the question of access, Biggers notes that it’s a problem even when widening the field and looking at the top 20% of hospitals.

“There’s still 30% of our country, they don't have access to even the top 20% of hospitals,” Biggers says.

She encourages patients to shop around to find the best hospitals near them.

Patients can ask friends and loved ones about their experiences at a nearby hospital. They can ask, “How was the bedside manner for the healthcare professional, whether it is a doctor, nurse practitioner, etc.?”

Patients who are looking to schedule a procedure should ask about how successful those surgeries have been in the past and about complication rates.

“If you don't feel comfortable … you should go and get a second opinion, and third opinion, fourth,” she says.

Patients are showing more willingness to ask questions, and more patients are coming in after already making a consultation with “Dr. Google,” she notes. Patients are also consulting AI tools as well.

Younger patients in particular are bringing more questions, she says.

“It seems like the older generation of my patients are less likely to question things sometimes, but, you know, Gen X, millennial and younger, they'll definitely pull things up,” Biggers says.

They may ask about certain treatments or vitamins. “People will bring in their questions, which we invite,” she says.

While Biggers cautions that the web and chatbots don’t always perform flawlessly, she says those tools can help patients ask more informed questions, she says.

Patients are absolutely doing more shopping around when it comes to their health care, and that includes deciding on a physician, Biggers says.

Relating her own experience, she says she’ll regularly see patients who will mention that they’ve been looking at other doctors.

Patients will say, “Let's talk. Let's see whether or not we're a good fit. So I see that in my own practice,” she says.