Forbes Gives Perfect 5-Star Ratings to Only Five Kentucky Hospitals

According to new ratings by Forbes, out of all the hospitals in Kentucky, only five of them received a five-star rating.

Everyone has their own opinion on hospitals. This one is good for this reason, that one is bad for that reason. However, one thing we all can agree on is that when it comes to hospitals, you want to go somewhere where the care is great. Especially given the fact that a hospital visit isn't cheap. So, what makes a good hospital? Well, the folks at Forbes took the time to recently find the best hospitals in America, and we broke things down to find the best ones in Kentucky specifically.

When it comes to Kentucky hospitals, which ones should you turn to first? That's where Forbes comes in. The publication just released its 2026 list of the best hospitals in America. Here's how Forbes did it:

To produce the Forbes Top Hospitals rating system, we enlisted healthcare measurement experts, including an advisory panel—comprised of clinicians, scientists, health policy researchers, and patient advocates—and partnered with Inovalon, a healthcare data and analytics firm, to calculate the ratings. The foundation of our methodology is validated and vetted data extracted from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Provider Data Catalog (PDC). From this dataset, we identified healthcare quality measures that assess patient outcomes, hospital best practices, value, and patient experience. These measures were chosen specifically because they have been developed and regularly tested by leaders in the healthcare community to meet rigorous national standards.

An important note here is that in this study, approximately 5,400 general acute care hospitals—which are listed in the CMS PDC and are currently operating in the U.S.—were eligible for consideration. From there, there were only 2,500 hospitals in America that met the inclusion criteria. Therefore, several hospitals were not included in this list. That doesn't mean that they are bad; they just didn't meet Forbes' criteria for whatever reason.

READ MORE: Forbes Gives Perfect 5-Star Ratings to Just Seven Indiana Hospitals

I remember being in school. Getting a perfect score was a very hard challenge. I'd imagine it's even harder for a hospital to receive a perfect five-star rating. Out of all of the Kentucky hospitals that were included in the 2026 list of the best hospitals in America, only five of them received five stars - a perfect score.

Get our free mobile app

Which Kentucky Hospitals Have Perfect 5-Star Ratings?

According to Forbes, these five hospitals received 5-star ratings based on four primary categories to rank hospitals, including value, patient experience, best practices, and outcomes. Again, not every hospital in the state was featured in this study, so keep that in mind.
Baptist Health Paducah- Paducah, Kentucky

CHI Saint Joseph Health-Saint Joseph London- London, Kentucky

Meadowview Regional Medical Center- Maysville, Kentucky

Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center- Leitchfield, Kentucky

St. Elizabeth Healthcare Edgewood Hospital- Edgewood, Kentucky

Lists like this are meant to just be a part of personal research to decide which hospitals you trust your care to. It appears that in Kentucky, you have many excellent facilities to choose from. You can take a look at the full rankings for Kentucky hospitals by clicking here.