Another national hospital list has put Scripps Health in the spotlight. This time, Becker’s Hospital Review named Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla to its 2026 “100 Great Hospitals in America” list.

For Scripps physicians, however, the more interesting story may be what came before it.

A Scripps hospital appeared in nine consecutive verified editions of Becker’s Great Hospitals list from 2012 through 2020. Scripps Green Hospital carried the recognition in 2012 and 2013. Beginning in 2014, Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla appeared every year through 2020.

Scripps La Jolla Hospitals returned to Becker’s Great Hospitals list in 2023. Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla returned in 2026.

At the same time, another national measure shows the recognition spreading to other Scripps campuses.

In Becker’s annual coverage of Healthgrades’ 50 Best Hospitals — representing roughly the top 1% of hospitals evaluated by Healthgrades — Scripps Green appeared in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas joined the list in 2024. In both 2025 and 2026, Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego joined Encinitas.

The distinction between the two lists matters.

Becker’s selects its Great Hospitals through editorial research, nominations, and consideration of other national recognitions. Hospitals cannot pay to be included, and Becker’s says the list is neither exhaustive nor an endorsement. The hospitals also are not ranked from No. 1 to No. 100.

Healthgrades uses a different approach. Its hospital awards rely on clinical-outcomes data, including risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates, and the 50 Best designation reflects sustained high performance over multiple years. Becker’s reports those results, but Healthgrades selects the hospitals.

For its 2026 Great Hospitals list, Becker’s pointed to Scripps Memorial La Jolla’s Level I trauma center, comprehensive stroke program, and cardiovascular, cancer, orthopedic, and maternity services. It also cited the hospital’s recent investment in clinical infrastructure.

That includes the $664 million North Tower, which opened in 2025 with new operating rooms, mother-baby services, and private inpatient rooms. Becker’s also noted the hospital’s recognition by U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek.

But the longer record suggests a broader question than why one hospital made one list.

Four Scripps hospitals — Green, Memorial La Jolla, Memorial Encinitas and Mercy San Diego — appear across the Becker’s and Healthgrades recognition history reviewed for this story. The individual hospitals receiving the honors have changed over time.

For Scripps-affiliated physicians, that raises a more useful question: What clinical, quality, and operational practices are common across the system, and have those practices helped different hospitals sustain nationally recognized performance?

The rankings themselves cannot answer that.

They also do not prove that quality has improved uniformly across every Scripps hospital. Doing that would require longitudinal clinical data and a closer look at outcomes across the system.

Still, the pattern is difficult to dismiss as a single good year. More than a decade after Scripps first began appearing regularly on Becker’s Great Hospitals list, different hospitals across the system continue to surface in national assessments.

Scripps hospitals secured spots in nine consecutive verified Becker’s Great Hospitals editions from 2012 through 2020, with further appearances in 2023 and 2026. At the same time, at least one Scripps facility earned a place in Healthgrades’ top-1% hospital group, as reported by Becker’s, annually from 2021 through 2026. This recognition expanded beyond the system’s initial stalwarts, Scripps Green and La Jolla, to include Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas and Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego. However, because Becker’s and Healthgrades employ distinct methodologies, observers should avoid treating these recognitions as interchangeable. Looking ahead, the system faces a critical question: rather than simply tracking awards, leaders must determine which clinical and quality practices drive this sustained performance.