UCSF Hospitals Awarded Top Honors for Quality and Safety

UCSF Health’s hospitals at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay, and Oakland received the 2025 Top Hospital award from The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing health care safety and quality standards.

Leapfrog recognized UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland as a Top Children’s Hospital, while the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights and UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion were recognized as Top Teaching Hospitals. This marks the third consecutive year that UCSF Health’s facilities at Parnassus Heights and Mount Zion have achieved this distinction for their outstanding commitment to patient safety and quality care.

“Our care teams set an extraordinarily high standard for what it means to put patients first,” said Suresh Gunasekaran, president and CEO of UCSF Health. “This recognition reflects their excellence and the commitment they bring to every person who turns to UCSF Health for care, and the collaboration across our hospitals that makes this possible.”

Leapfrog evaluated more than 2,400 hospitals across four categories: general, teaching, pediatric, and rural. Fewer than 7% of hospitals nationwide earned the Top Hospital designation.

Patient safety is the foundation of everything we do at UCSF.

Amy Lu, MD, MPH

To qualify for the distinction, hospitals must lead their peers on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, which assesses hospital performance against the highest standards for quality and patient safety, and achieve top performance in their category.

Leapfrog also announced its annual hospital Safety Grades last month, which assess hospitals twice a year based on 22 evidence-based measures. Leapfrog awarded “A” safety grades to UCSF Health medical centers at Parnassus Heights, Mission Bay and Mount Zion, as well as to UCSF Health Stanyan Hospital (formerly UCSF Health St. Mary’s Hospital). UCSF Health Medical Center at Mission Bay has earned an “A” grade for eight rating cycles in a row.

“Patient safety is the foundation of everything we do at UCSF,” said Amy Lu, MD, MPH, UCSF chief quality officer and vice president. “Being recognized as Top Hospitals and earning ‘A’ grades from Leapfrog reflects the dedication of our teams to fostering a culture where safety is integrated into every decision and every interaction.”

For three years in a row, UCSF Health has been recognized by three of the nation’s most prestigious quality benchmarking systems — U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll, a five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and Vizient Top Performer recognition — and it is the only public academic medical center to receive all three in 2025. Additionally, UCSF Medical Center has achieved the gold standard “Magnet recognition” for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for more than a decade.