BCHHC

December 2025 

Beatrice Community Hospital has been recognized as one of the best general acute care hospitals in the nation in the inaugural “Forbes Top Hospitals 2026” list.

The "Top Hospitals” list is a first-ever list from Forbes. More than 5,400 hospitals nationwide were eligible for review, with roughly 2,500 meeting Forbes’ inclusion criteria. Of those, 253 hospitals earned a five-star overall rating and 509 received four stars, including Beatrice Community Hospital.

BCH was one of 10 Nebraska hospitals that landed on Forbes' "Top Hospitals" ranking for 2026.

“Forbes is a credible source the public can trust. It’s an honor to be listed as one of their best hospitals,” said Rick Haraldson, CEO of Beatrice Community Hospital. “Our mission is to serve this region with quality healthcare close to home and we are proud of the trust our communities place in us.”

Forbes said it developed its first-ever Top Hospitals list to help consumers navigate the complex healthcare landscape by identifying general acute care hospitals that consistently deliver high-quality, high-value care.

A key component of the methodology – which uses publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid - is its strong emphasis on clinical patient outcomes, including mortality, survival, infection, and readmission rates. These outcomes are further adjusted for social drivers of health to ensure a fair comparison across hospitals and communities.

"Unlike specialty hospitals - which typically focus on specific clinical areas and complex, high-risk cases - general acute care hospitals usually treat a greater number of common conditions, contain an emergency department (ED), and provide healthcare services for more people each year," Forbes said.

Forbes, known for its globally recognized rankings and business journalism, says the new Top Hospitals program is intended to help the public better understand healthcare quality and compare providers.

BCH has received several top honors for excellence this year, including Top 20 and Top 100 Critical Access Hospital recognition as well as an A Rating by the Lown Institute.  These are independent rankings and hospitals do not apply or pay to be listed.

“It’s always exciting to be recognized for the incredible work our providers and staff do,” Haraldson said. “It’s especially rewarding to know it’s based on publicly-available data that showcases the quality of our work.”