WebMD Choice Awards Overview & Methodology

WebMD Choice Awards Overview

WebMD® began the Choice Awards program in 2021 as a way to identify “best in class” health systems in a local region, strictly based on the perspective of patients and healthcare providers. This unique vantage point, without complicated formulas, is the first of its kind in the healthcare industry.

WebMD Choice Awards Assignment

Health system rankings are assigned based on the percentage of respondents who selected a particular health system as their preferred choice. Awards assigned to a health system at the specialty and regional levels may differ from award assignment at the specific treatment and subregion, based on differences in respondent preferences. Health systems receiving an award for a specialty, treatment, region, or subregion, do not prevent others from being recognized at the same award level.

Awards Recognition Assignment

WebMD Elite Choice Award

Health systems that are preferred by patients and physicians 2 to 1 over competitors for a specialty in their local region

WebMD Patient Choice Award

Top 30% of patient preferences, excluding Elite award recipients in that category

Medscape Provider Choice Award

Top 30% of healthcare provider preferences, excluding Elite award recipients in that category

WebMD Choice Awards Survey Methodology

The WebMD Choice Awards program is intentionally designed to measure patients’ perceptions of health systems at the point of choosing care, and gauge healthcare providers’ viewpoints on care delivered by health systems when actively referring in a specific market. Conducted annually beginning in the first quarter of the year, the survey design and methodology are structured to rank current preferences as well as provide information about the reasons behind their choice. The mechanics of the survey approach are detailed below:

WebMD Patient Choice Awards

Live poll intercept randomly targeted to relevant condition areas and audiences on WebMD
Recruitment drivers in WebMD newsletters and on Facebook
Geo-location data based on respondent ZIP code entered in the survey or IP addresses mapped to ZIP codes to gather responses specific to a market
Surveys are in-field long enough to gain the required sample size to make relevant judgments on perception
Average sample size in 2025 n= 961 per specialty

Medscape Provider Choice Awards

Survey targets healthcare providers via Medscape email
Targeting is a random subset of healthcare providers in primary care and specialty areas
Geo-location data based on respondent NPI numbers
Surveys are in-field long enough to gain the required sample size to make relevant judgments on referral perceptions
Average sample size in 2025 n = 298 per specialty

Survey Measurement Goal and Approach

The survey questions were structured to measure general consumer and healthcare provider perception of the best overall health system for a specific specialty.

Respondents were first asked to select the health system they believe provides the best overall quality and treatment capability from a predetermined list of health systems.
Respondents were also asked a set of follow-up questions to qualify the reason behind their preference as well as to understand their perception of options for care outside their local area.

Questions were mirrored in the consumer and physician surveys.

To assign responses to the correct treatment category, the consumer survey also asked which types of condition-specific treatments or procedures they’ve researched for themselves or someone else in the past 12 months.

WebMD Choice Awards Specialties Measured in 2025

The Choice Awards program includes three specialties, and 5-6 underlying treatments/procedures. These were chosen based on volume, the revenue generated for the health system, and the competitive landscape in that local area. They are subject to change from year to year as the market fluctuates over time, and more specialties might be added in the future based on market need.

Specialty	Treatments/Procedures
Oncology	Blood Cancer Treatment, Breast Cancer Treatment, Colorectal Cancer Treatment, Lung Cancer Treatment, Prostate Cancer Treatment, Skin Cancer Treatment
Cardiology	Angioplasty, Coronary Bypass, Heart Valve Replacement, Pacemaker or Defibrillator Placement, Stent Placement
Orthopedics	Arthroscopy, Hip Replacement, Knee Replacement, Rotator Cuff Repair, Spine Surgery

Local Regions Measured in 2025

All regions measured represent Designated Market Areas (DMA) unless it was determined that local markets could be represented more accurately.

Region	Subregion
Atlanta Metro Area	Downtown/Midtown Atlanta, East Atlanta, North Atlanta, South Atlanta, West Atlanta
Greater Boston Region	Middlesex & Essex Counties, Norfolk & Plymouth Counties, Providence County (RI) & Bristol County (MA), Southern New Hampshire, Suffolk County
Chicago Metro Area	Cook County, Northeast Chicago, Northwest Indiana
Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area	Dallas-Plano-Irving Areas, Fort Worth-Arlington-Grapevine Areas
Washington, DC Metro Area	Baltimore County, DC Metro Area, Maryland, Prince George’s & Montgomery Counties, Northern Virginia
Houston Metro Area	East Houston, Harris County, North Houston, South Houston, Southwest Houston, West Houston
Los Angeles Metro Area	Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino, Ventura County
Miami Metro Area	Miami-Dade County, Palm Beach County, Southwest Florida, The Treasure Coast
Michigan	Central Michigan, Detroit Metro Area, Eastern Michigan, Northern Michigan, Southwestern Michigan
Missouri	Central Missouri, Kansas City Metro Area, Springfield (MO) Metro Area, St. Louis
North Carolina	Charlotte Metro Area, Raleigh-Durham, Piedmont Triad, Upstate South Carolina, Wilmington
New York Metro Area	Fairfield County (CT), Long Island, Mid-Hudson Valley, New York City, Northern NJ
Ohio	Central Ohio, Cincinnati Metro Area, Dayton Metro Area, Greater Cleveland, Toledo Metro Area
Philadelphia Metro Area	Delaware, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Philadelphia County, Philadelphia Suburbs, Southern New Jersey
Northern California	East Bay, North Bay, Peninsula, Sacramento County, San Francisco County

Health System Eligibility

Health systems included in the survey were identified using volumetrics based on third-party data source and internal WebMD expertise. To be eligible, a health system must meet at least one of the following three criteria:

Ranks in the top 10 in revenue in a market, as defined by WebMD
Ranks in the top 10 in discharge volume in a market, as defined by WebMD
Has more than 500 beds across the health system

No application, fee, data submission, or other action is required for health systems to be included in the survey or awards qualification process. All facilities in the target markets are automatically considered as long as the health system meets the eligibility requirements.

Health System Choice Award Licensing

If your health system or hospital was recognized with a WebMD Choice Award, you can license it royalty free. To learn more about award licensing, visit the WebMD Ignite website.

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