In this article we take a look at the 25 countries with the best hospitals in the world. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go straight to the view 10 countries with the best hospitals in the world.
Almost all developed countries in the world have universal healthcare available to their residents, with the only major exception being the United States. In the US, healthcare has been privatized, to the benefit of the companies involved in the industry and to the detriment of the people who actually need healthcare. While many would consider health care and access to hospitals a fundamental right, this is not the case in the US, where health insurance is primarily tied to a person’s employment and without insurance the costs are so exorbitant that people are more likely to be forced to live with pain than seek treatment.
On the other hand, the USA is definitely one of the countries with the best hospitals in the world and several hospitals in the country are known all over the world for their services, not to mention that they are the center of important developments in medicine. After all, some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are based in the US, including some of the companies that developed the Covid-19 vaccine in record time to allow the world to emerge from a pandemic in a relatively short time, affecting millions of lives and potentially hundreds of millions if not billions of infections.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Healthcare is one of the largest industries in the world and in 2022 it was relatively successful compared to the broader market. The healthcare sector, including some of the largest healthcare companies by market cap, such as Cigna Corporation (NYSE:CI) and Elevance Health Inc. (NYSE:ELV). Meanwhile, healthcare companies are fairly optimistic about industry performance in 2023, according to JPMorgan, with around 48% of all executives surveyed giving an optimistic outlook, a huge improvement from the overall industry average of 22%. Additionally, 91% of respondents believed their earnings would either be maintained or increased, although the majority expect a recession in 2023.
While large companies, particularly in the technology industry, have laid off tens of thousands of employees, including Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the Healthcare industry has also shown optimism in this regard, with the vast majority anticipating either maintaining their current headcount or even expecting to increase headcount. Working capital optimization is also one of the top considerations for many healthcare companies to maximize cash flow.
The importance of hospitals in the fight against ever evolving diseases cannot be underestimated as hospitals are constantly innovating with the help of the healthcare industry. Therefore, hospitals continuously adapt to existing and new challenges. According to David Bates, chief of general internal medicine and primary care at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, “We had to convert beds to ICU beds very quickly and close large parts of the hospital, then muster staff to cover those beds. There have also been major challenges managing our supply chain for things like ventilators and personal protective equipment.”
Finally, hospitals have been badly affected due to Covid-19, but unlike other industries the impact has been due to much greater demand than supply, with many overwhelmed by the number of patients requiring critical care. Staff had to work around the clock despite lockdowns being imposed in most countries as hospital staff were seen as an integral part. The pandemic has also caused problems in the global supply chain, and hospitals and the healthcare industry in general have not been exempt. However, hospitals could learn from this, and the director of the department of internal medicine at the University Hospital Zurich, Dr. Christoph Meier, said: “Many lessons could be learned from COVID, such as hospital hygiene and the emphasis on the importance of generalists over isolated specialization. The biggest challenge was setting individual priorities together for a common goal.”
This is especially important for some of the biggest hospital stocks out there, including HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:HCA), which owns and operates nearly 190 hospitals in addition to around 2,000 different care facilities, and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:HCA). THC), which owns 65 hospitals and more than 450 healthcare facilities. As the number of Covid patients around the world began to fall, hospital revenues were negatively impacted while there was also a shift in patient trends, with more outpatients than inpatients compared to the previous year. Since inpatients usually require extensive treatments and examinations as well as operations, this trend reversal has also led to declining sales. In the fourth quarter of 2022, as Universal Health Services, Inc. (NYSE:UHS), one of the largest hospital stocks, was gaining views, the company’s CEO said, “In the fourth quarter, our acute care hospitals saw a decrease in the number of patients with a In our hospitals.” treated COVID diagnosis compared to the same quarter last year As a percentage of total admissions, patients diagnosed with COVID accounted for 7% of our admissions in Q4 2021, but only about half that percentage of admissions in Q4 2022. This decrease in COVID patients resulted in lower revenue due to lower acuity and lower government reimbursement associated with COVID patients.”
Determining the countries with the best hospitals in the world was not an easy task, since there are hardly any objective ratings. For our ranking, we first obtained Newsweek’s list of the top 250 hospitals in 2022 and 2023, and then assigned a score to each hospital based on its ranking. For example, if a hospital placed first in a year, it received a score of 250/250 = 1, while the second place received a score of 249/250 = 0.996, and so on. We then added up the scores of all hospitals in a given country to get the country’s score. We then used the average score of 2022 and 2023 to calculate our ranking, with the ranking being based from highest to lowest score. Now let’s take a look at the hospitals you would like to be treated in, starting with:
25.Thailand
Total hospital score: 0.348
Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok is the reason Thailand made this list. However, other hospitals in the country offer a high level of care at relatively lower costs, making it an attractive destination for people from other countries to seek treatment there.
24. Mexico
Total hospital score: 0.350
Many people in the US go to Mexico for treatment because the cost is significantly cheaper, even after travel and accommodation costs are included, while the level of healthcare is still relatively high. However, there is a danger from the threat of violence, as illustrated by the recent case where an American went to Mexico for treatment and two of the four people were killed and one injured.
23. Colombia
Overall hospital score: 0.382
You might be surprised to hear that Colombia is among the countries with the best hospitals in the world, but it has a world-class health institute in Cali, Fundación Valle Del Lili.
22. India
Overall hospital score: 1,152
While India’s healthcare system is nowhere near good enough to support its massive and ever-growing population, it is home to some world-class hospitals, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi.
21. Israel
Overall hospital score: 1,782
Israel is home to one of the most technologically advanced healthcare systems in the world as hospitals are equipped with highly qualified staff and modern facilities. Tel Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center is the highest ranked hospital in the country.
20. Norway
Overall hospital score: 1,892
Norway is an extremely wealthy country thanks to its vast oil reserves, although it has used its wealth to improve the quality of life for its residents, including healthcare, and the Oslo Universitetssykehus is its top-ranked hospital.
19. Belgium
Overall hospital score: 2,056
Four of Belgium’s hospitals are on Newsweek’s list of the 250 best hospitals, making it one of the countries with the best hospitals in the world. The best hospital in the country is UZ Leuven in Leuven/Pellenberg.
18. Australia
Overall hospital score: 2,492
Both public and private hospitals in Australia provide excellent healthcare, with public healthcare resulting in extremely low costs for the country’s residents. Medicare is the country’s publicly funded universal health care system, which has recently been criticized for its declining levels of quality.
17. Brazil
Overall hospital score: 2,776
The country with the best hospitals in Latin America, Brazil’s best hospital is the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo.
16. Sweden
Overall hospital score: 2,834
The Nordic countries have a strong presence in our list and Sweden is no exception, with 6 entries in Newsweek’s top 250 hospitals list, with the top ranked hospital being Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset.
15. Singapore
Overall hospital score: 2,882
Although Singapore has a population of just over 5 million, it is still one of the countries with the best hospitals in the world, with fierce competition in the industry resulting in lower costs and a better patient experience.
14. Finland
Overall hospital score: 2,942
Adequate healthcare in Finland is guaranteed by its constitution, with the best hospital in the country being Helsinki University Hospital.
13. Denmark
Overall hospital score: 3,026
The best country for hospitals in Scandinavia as most of its high quality services are financed by taxes and thus high quality services are offered to all residents.
12. Austria
Overall hospital score: 3,808
European countries dominate the list of countries with the best hospitals in the world, and although healthcare is mainly public, there are also options for private healthcare.
11. United Kingdom
Overall hospital score: 4,226
While the National Health Service, the UK’s publicly funded healthcare system, has been lauded for its level of quality, many complain that the NHS is now overwhelmed which has led to a deterioration in that quality. Many nurses in the system are striking to demand higher wages, which has left hospitals unable to provide the service and treatment they are known for.
Click here to read on and see the 10 countries with the best hospitals in the world.
Suggested articles:
Disclosure: None. 25 Countries With The World’s Best Hospitals was originally published by Insider Monkey.
