The three best hospitals in Virginia, according to U.S. News & World Report’s just-released Best Hospitals Rankings & Ratings, can be found in the Commonwealth’s three most-populous regions.
Richmond is home to the No. 1 Best Regional Hospital in Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. It earned a national ranking in two adult specialties – Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery (No. 29); and Orthopedics (No. 44) – and eight pediatric specialties.
The medical center also earned High Performing rankings in three specialties and 20 procedures/conditions.
Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church was ranked No. 2 Best Regional Hospital in Virginia, earning a national ranking in one adult specialty – Obstetrics and Gynecology (No. 41) – and one pediatric specialty, Neonatology (No. 37).
Rounding out the Top 3 is Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Though it earns no national rankings, it is rated high performing in 14 adult procedures and conditions.
In total, 111 hospitals in Virginia were scored by U.S. News, with 23 of them earning Best Regional Hospitals recognition.
The news organization also ranked the best children’s hospitals. In Virginia, University of Virginia Children’s Hospital earned the No. 1 rank. It is also nationally ranked in nine children’s specialties.
Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and Inova L.J. Murphy Children’s Hospital in Falls Church round out the Top 3.
Ranking Rankings
While ratings are not new, the use of ratings is drawing more scrutiny.
In an article released on Monday, Becker’s Hospital Review analyzed how five organizations that rank hospitals compare.
The publication “compiled and compared the 2026 results of U.S. News & World Report‘s Best Hospitals, the CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, Forbes‘ Top Hospitals, the Lown Institute Hospitals Index for Social Responsibility and The Leapfrog Group’s spring safety grades to see where they agree, where they diverge and what separates them.”
The article listed nine takeaways. Among them:
- Of the 5,432 hospitals assessed, just three were included among U.S. News‘ Best Regional Hospitals, Forbes and CMS’ five-star hospitals and Lown’s honor roll.
- For-profit hospitals represent about 23.6% of U.S. acute care hospitals, but their share among award recipients was less than 11% across every ranking. Among the 1,677 hospitals U.S. News evaluated, the mean High Performing count was 3.67 for for-profits vs. 6.17 for nonprofits.
In recent years, U.S. News’ hospital rankings have drawn criticisms for their Best Hospitals methodology. In 2023, an article in Health Affairs called on “US hospitals to follow the example of medical and law schools by withdrawing from the US News rankings.”
Though U.S. News regularly adjusts its methodologies, in December 2025 the publication announced recent and forthcoming significant alterations.
In “A Slate of Changes to Best Hospitals,” the publication said that “This year’s edition of Best Hospitals will reflect several significant refinements. Risk-adjusted outcome measures will play a larger role than ever in determining the adult rankings and ratings.
The Cardiology, Heart & Vascular Surgery specialty (aka Heart & Vascular) will undergo the greatest transformation: Forty-one discrete outcome measures and two patient experience measures will largely determine each hospital’s specialty score and ranking. Expert opinion, previously measured by surveying heart doctors, and most structural measures, including volume, will no longer be factors in that specialty. The weight of outcome measures will increase from 45% to 80%.”
Dig In
To learn more about how U.S. News ranks hospitals, visit its methodology page.
View Rankings by Region and Type
