NEWS: Mary Washington, Stafford Hospitals Recognized for Outpatient Service
Women's Choice Award® ranks the two hospitals in the top 10% nationwide for providing outpatient care.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Both Mary Washington and Stafford hospitals were recently recognized as one of “America’s Best Hospitals for Outpatient Experience” by the Women’s Choice Award®.
Mary Washington scored 82% for outpatient experience, while Stafford Hospital scored 85%.
Those scores place Mary Washington in the top 9% of hospitals nationally for outpatient experience; Stafford Hospital’s score places it in the top 5% nationally.
Nationally, 450 hospitals received recognition.
In a press release issued by Mary Washington Healthcare, the organization’s president and CEO Dr. Christopher Newman said: “Earning the Women’s Choice Award® for Outpatient Experience is a meaningful reflection of our team’s unwavering commitment to delivering high‑quality, compassionate care to every patient we serve.” He went on to add that “Outpatient services are a vital part of how our community accesses healthcare, and this recognition affirms that Mary Washington and Stafford Hospitals are providing safe, seamless, and patient‑centered care at every step. We are proud of our teams and grateful to our patients for placing their trust in us.”
The Women’s Choice Award® for Outpatient Experience is the only national designation that combines patient satisfaction, clinical excellence, and women’s healthcare preferences to identify top-performing hospitals.
To qualify for the award, hospitals must be accredited by one of the following:
The Joint Commission (TJC)
Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP)
Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ)
Det Norske Veritas Healthcare (DNV)
It must also score at or above the national average in key categories from the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Survey (OAS-CAHPS), including:
Care by hospital staff
Pre- and post-surgical coordination & communication
Facility ratings
Patient recommendation scores
According to the Women’s Choice Award website, the organization was founded by Delia Passi, former Publisher of Working Mother magazine. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, she had a poor healthcare experience and set out to “empower every woman to make smarter healthcare choices by providing publicly available reporting on every hospital, as well as recognizing the best hospitals to simplify her choices.”
While Mary Washington and Stafford both scored well in the Outpatient Recommendation category, each scored lower on the Patient Recommendation for in-stay visits. Mary Washington scored 61%, while Stafford Hospital scored 69%.
“Mary Washington and Stafford Hospitals are proud to be recognized by the Women’s Choice Award® as two of America’s Best Hospitals for Outpatient Experience in 2026,” said Kendra Gerlach, Vice President Marketing, Corporate Communications. “While we continuously review patient feedback across all care settings, this national recognition underscores the consistently positive experiences our patients report when receiving outpatient care at both hospitals. As more care shifts to outpatient settings, we remain committed to delivering safe, seamless, and compassionate care and to using patient feedback to drive ongoing improvement.”
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