These 8 hospitals are the best in NC, new report says. See the ratings

There are more than 100 hospitals across North Carolina, and new data reveals which are among the best for patient care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released the latest Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings for healthcare facilities across the nation. Of all the hospitals in the state, eight received the highest rating for patient care.

Best hospitals in NC

These hospitals (listed alphabetically) earned five stars in the 2025 Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings report:

Asheville-Oteen VA Medical Center (Asheville)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: 5

Davie Medical Center (Bermuda Run)

• Overall star rating: 5
• Patient survey rating: Not available

Duke University Hospital (Durham)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: 4

ECU Health Bertie Hospital (Windsor)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: Not available

Pardee Hospital Henderson County (Hendersonville)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: 4

Rex Hospital (Raleigh)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: 4

UNC Hospitals (Chapel Hill)

• Overall star rating: 5
• Patient survey rating: 4

WakeMed Cary Hospital (Cary)

• Overall star rating: 5 
• Patient survey rating: 4

Based on this year’s data, UNC Health is the only health system in the state to have multiple hospitals with 5-star status.

“We are proud that UNC Health Rex, UNC Hospitals and UNC Health Pardee received such outstanding recognition from CMS,” Dr. Cristy Page, interim CEO of UNC Health, said in a release sent to The News & Observer. “Faced with the ever-shifting landscape of healthcare, this remarkable achievement reflects our teammate’s commitment to serving our families, friends, and neighbors.”

Duke University Hospital, UNC Hospitals and Rex Hospital were also included among the 10 best hospitals in North Carolina in this year’s annual ranking from U.S. News & World Report, The N&O previously reported.

Which NC hospitals had the lowest rating?

These hospitals received 1-star ratings, according to this year’s data from CMS:

• Caldwell Memorial Hospital (Lenoir)
• Cape Fear Valley Medical Center (Fayetteville)
• Carteret General Hospital (Morehead City)
• Central Carolina Hospital (Sanford)
• Columbus Regional Healthcare System (Whiteville)
• Erlanger Murphy Medical Center (Murphy)
• Onslow Memorial Hospital (Jacksonville)
• Transylvania Regional Hospital, Inc (Brevard)

Central Carolina Hospital was also included among the most unsafe hospitals in North Carolina in this year’s spring report from national healthcare watchdog The Leapfrog Group, The N&O previously reported.

How are hospitals rated?

The overall star ratings, which are refreshed annually, are based on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).

According to CMS’ website, the 2025 ratings selected 45 of the hospital quality measures it publicly reports on Medicare.gov and divided them into separate categories: mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience and timely and effective care.

You can find more information about how ratings are calculated online at data.cms.gov and the CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings at medicare.gov/care-compare and data.cms.gov/provider-data.

This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 3:42 PM with the headline "These 8 hospitals are the best in NC, new report says. See the ratings."