From time to time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conducts surveys of adult patients who received recent inpatient care at a hospital that services Medicaid and Medicare plan enrollees.  The goal of these surveys is to gauge the degree of satisfaction patients had with their recent inpatient hospital experience. The ratings methodology employed by the CMS involves consolidating patient questionnaire responses into an all-encompassing patient satisfaction rating on a 1 to 5-star scale, with five stars being the best score on the scale.  As of May 13, 2026, CMS data shows only four hospitals in Tennessee earning five-stars on patient surveys.  Listed alphabetically, here are the four Tennessee hospitals that rated as five-stars for patient experience in CMS surveys:

Tennessee Hospitals with Five-Star CMS Patient Survey Ratings

1. Mountain Home VA Medical Center
   

   Location:  Mountain Home

   View Rating Details
   
   
2. Unity Medical Center
   Location:  Manchester
   View Rating Details
   
   
3. West Tennessee Healthcare Milan Hospital
   Location:  Milan
   View Rating Details
   
   
4. Henderson County Community Hospital
   Location:  Lexington
   View Rating Details
   

In the 25-26 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) study of American hospitals, more than 800 hospitals were examined for their capabilities in providing adult cancer care.  The USNWR study assessed hospitals on various metrics related to their adult cancer programs, including patient outcomes, the breadth and scope of their programs, and the level of recognition earned by a hospital from the wider cancer care community.  Four Great Plains region hospitals made the list of the top 50 rated U.S. hospitals for adult cancer care in the 25-26 survey, including the Mayo Clinic, which ranked among the nation's five best adult cancer care hospitals.  Here's a summary look at the four Great Plains hospitals that ranked in the top 50 nationally for adult cancer care:

Top Cancer Hospitals in the Great Plains Region

1. Mayo Clinic
   Location:  Rochester, MN
   National Rank:  #4 (See ranking details)
   
   
2. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital
   Location:  St. Louis, MO

   National Rank:  #27 (See ranking details)
   
   
3. University of Iowa Health Health Care Medical Center

   Location:  Iowa City, IA
   National Rank:  #42 (see ranking details)
   
   
4. University of Kansas Hospital
   

   Location:  Kansas City, KS

   National Rank:  #50 (See ranking details)
   
   

For a closer look at the measures used to score adult cancer care hospitals in the 25-26 USNWR survey, or to find cancer care ratings for other Great Plains region hospitals, visit Best Hospitals for Adult Cancer Care.

 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys put seasonally adjusted total hospital employment in the U.S. at 5.762 million workers as of April 1, 2026, up about 2.4% from the prior year.  Over the past year hospital employment growth significantly outpaced total non-farm employment growth in the U.S., which grew less than 0.2% during the period.   Total employment by U.S. hospitals is up about 12.3% over the past five years and 15.2% over the last ten years.  

Total Hospital Employment in the USA

Units: Thousands of Persons, Seasonally Adjusted

Patient surveys conducted periodically by the CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) aim to measure user satisfaction with recent inpatient stays at hospitals that service Medicare and Medicaid enrollees. The CMS survey solicits input from recent patients about their inpatient stays, then consolidates that information into a unified patient satisfaction rating on a 1 to 5-star scale, with the scale's highest score being 5-stars.  Based on the most current CMS patient surveys, only three Oklahoma hospitals earned a five-star rating from patients.  Listed alphabetically, here are the hospitals in Oklahoma that rated as five-stars for patient experience according to CMS surveys (as of May 11, 2026):

Oklahoma Hospitals Rated Five-Star in CMS Patient Surveys

1. Oklahoma Heart Hospital
   Location:  Oklahoma City
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2. Oklahoma Heart Hospital South
   Location:  Oklahoma City
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3. Tulsa Spine & Specialty Hospital
   Location:  Tulsa
   View Rating Details
   
   

Data released recently from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there were more than 248,000 physical therapists (PTs) at work in the United States as of May 2024.  Nearly 27,300 of those working as physical therapists in the U.S. lived in the four-state Southwest region.  The Southwest region was a relatively good one for physical therapist pay, with the two largest states in the region, Arizona and Texas, both recording PT annual mean wage levels that ranked among the top 10 states nationally for the profession.  A deeper dive into BLS data from May 2024 reveals the following about PT employment and physical therapist pay in the U.S. Southwest:

Physical Therapist Pay in the U.S. Southwest

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
AZ	4,540	$104,250	10th
NM	1,350	$99,360	24th
OK	2,4300	$97,760	32nd
TX	18,930	$106,450	9th
U.S.	248,620	$99,913	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on May 20, 2026

More than 800 hospitals were analyzed for their effectiveness at delivering adult cancer care in the 25-26 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) survey of American hospitals.  In this latest study, hospitals were scored on multiple metrics related to their adult cancer programs, including patient outcomes, the scope and scale of their cancer program, and the amount of professional recognition they have earned from the broader cancer care community.  Among the top 50 rated U.S. hospitals for adult cancer care in the 25-26 survey, twelve were based in the Mid-East USA region, an area that encompasses the District of Columbia and five states.  Among the twelve were four Mid-East USA hospitals that ranked among the top 10 highest-rated adult cancer care hospitals in the nation. Here's a brief look at these ten Mid-East USA medical institutions and where they ranked nationally for adult cancer care in the 25-26 survey:

The Top Cancer Hospitals in the Mid-East USA

1. Memorial Sloan Kettering Center
   
   Location:  New York City
   National Rank:  #2 (See ranking details)
   
   
2. Mount Sinai Hospital

   Location:  New York City

   National Rank:  #6 (See ranking details)
   
   
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital

   Location:  Baltimore, MD

   National Rank:  #8 (See ranking details)
   
   
4. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania - Penn Presbyterian
   

   Location:  Philadelphia, PA

   National Rank:  #10 (See ranking details)
   
   
5. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell

   Location:  New York City 

   National Rank:  #15 (See ranking details)
   
   
6. NYU Langone Perlmutter Cancer Center 

   Location:  New York City

   National Rank:  #16 (See ranking details)
   
   
7. Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center

   Location:  Bronx, NY

   National Rank:  #26 (See ranking details)
   
   
8. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center
   

   Location:  Buffalo, NY

   National Rank:  #30 (See ranking details)
   
   
9. UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside

   Location:  Pittsburgh, PA

   National Rank:  #33 (See ranking details)
   
   
10. North Shore University Hospital at Northwell Health

    Location:  Manhasset, NY

    National Rank:  #34 (See ranking details)
    
    
11. Hackensack University Medical Center
    

    Location:  Hackensack, NJ

    National Rank:  #37 (See ranking details)
    
    
12. University of Maryland Medical Center
    

    Location:  Baltimore, MD

    National Rank:  #45 (See ranking details)

For a deeper dive into the metrics used to score adult cancer care hospitals in the 25-26 USNWR survey, or to find the adult cancer care rating of other Mid-East USA region hospitals, visit Best Hospitals for Adult Cancer Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conducts periodic surveys of adult patients who recently received inpatient care at a hospital that services Medicaid and Medicare plan participants.  The purpose of these surveys is to measure the degree of satisfaction patients had with their recent inpatient hospital experience. The CMS ratings methodology involves combining patient questionnaire responses into a uniform patient satisfaction rating on a 1 to 5-star scale, with five stars being the scale's best score.  As of May 11, 2026, only four hospitals in Idaho earned five-stars on CMS patient surveys.  From CMS patient satisfaction surveys, listed alphabetically here are the four hospitals in Idaho that rated as five-stars for patient experience were:

Idaho Hospitals with Five-Star CMS Patient Survey Ratings

1. Boise VA Medical Center
   

   Location:  Boise

   View Rating Details
   
   
2. Gritman Medical Center
   Location:  Moscow
   View Rating Details
   
   
3. St Luke's Elmore Medical Center
   Location:  Mountain Home
   View Rating Details
   
   
4. Treasure Valley Hospital
   Location:  Boise
   View Rating Details
   

Over 1,388,000 nursing assistants were employed as of May 2024 in the United States according to data released recently by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  More than 48,000 of the nation's nursing assistants were employed in the five-state Rocky Mountain region of the country.  A further examination of May 2024 BLS data provides the following details about nursing assistant pay in the Rocky Mountain region:

Nursing Assistant Pay in the Rocky Mountain Region

State	# Employed	Annual Mean Wages	Wage Rank*
CO	20,880	$45,480	10th
ID	7,340	$37,740	40th
MT	4,800	$42,020	23rd
UT	12,350	$39,240	32nd
WY	2,680	$41,040	25th
U.S.	1,388,510	$41,173	-------

(*) annual mean wage ranking among the 50 states and the District of Columbia

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on May 13, 2026

In the 2025-26 U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) ratings of American hospitals, over 800 hospitals were graded on their effectiveness at delivering cancer care to adults.  The analysis scored hospitals on various measures related to their cancer patient outcomes, the range of their cancer services, and the level of recognition earned by a facility from the wider cancer care community.  Nine hospitals in the Western U.S. rated among the top 50 U.S. hospitals for adult cancer care in the 25-26 survey.  This included three hospitals that ranked among the ten best cancer hospitals nationally.  Here's a summary view of where these nine Western U.S. hospitals rated nationally for adult cancer care in the 25-26 USNWR survey:

Top Cancer Hospitals in the Western U.S.

1. UCSF Medical Center
   Location:  San Francisco
   National Rank:  #7 (See ranking details)
   
   
2. Stanford Hospital
   Location:  Palo Alto, CA
   National Rank:  #9 (See ranking details)
   
   
3. City of Hope Cancer Center
   Location:  Duarte, CA
   

   National Rank:  #10 (See ranking details)

   
   
4. UCLA Medical Center
   Location:  Los Angeles
   National Rank:  #13 (See ranking details)
   
   
5. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
   Location:  Los Angeles 
   National Rank:  #18 (See ranking details)
   
   
6. USC Norris Cancer Hospital
   Location:  Los Angeles
   

   National Rank:  #25 (See ranking details)
   
   
7. OHSU Knight Cancer Institute

   Portland, OR

   National Rank: #27 (See ranking details)
   
   
8. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

   Location:  Seattle, WA
   National Rank:  #37 (See ranking details)
   
   
9. UC San Diego Health

   Location: San Diego

   National Rank:  #41 (See ranking details)

For a closer look into the metrics used to rate adult cancer care hospitals in the 25-26 U.S. News survey, or to find the cancer care rating of other Western U.S. hospitals, visit Best Hospitals for Adult Cancer Care.