Phoebe hospitals ranked among Georgia’s Best by consumer advocacy group
Albany, Ga. – Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (PPMH) and Phoebe Sumter Medical Center (PSMC) are two of just six Georgia hospitals to earn the highest five-star rating in a new independent hospital scorecard. Phoebe Worth Medical (PWMC) also received a high rating of four stars from Georgia Watch, a statewide consumer advocacy organization. Georgia Watch’s first Georgia Hospital Accountability Scorecard aims to translate complex data into a star rating that scores the performance of not-for-profit hospitals in Georgia across a range of factors.
“These ratings confirm what we know – that the Phoebe Family works hard every day to live up to our vision, ‘to make every life we touch, better.’ We are committed to improving access to quality, equitable, value-based care and to using our resources in ways that best serve the people of southwest Georgia,” said Scott Steiner, Phoebe Putney Health System President & CEO.
In 2024, the Georgia General Assembly passed a law requiring not-for-profit hospitals to publicly report financial and organizational data. Historically, Phoebe shared most of that information even before it was required by law. Now, all not-for-profit hospitals in the state must use a uniform template to post the data on their websites. Georgia Watch developed a methodology using that data to score hospitals based on 25 measures affecting affordability and community health. Those metrics fall into four broad categories:
- Financial Transparency & Fiscal Health
- Community Benefit Spending
- Healthcare Affordability & Billing Practices
- Healthcare Access & Social Responsibility
“The delivery of healthcare is extremely complex, and no single hospital ranking system can fully and accurately reflect the quality of a hospital’s care and service. We appreciate honest efforts to hold hospitals accountable, and we are pleased that the Georgia Hospital Accountability Scorecard highlights some of the many ways Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital serves our community,” said Deb Angerami, PPMH President.
Georgia Watch evaluated 111 not-for-profit hospitals that published the required data in Fall 2025. Among those hospitals, six received five stars, 48 received four stars, 45 received three stars, eight received two stars, zero received one star and four received zero stars.
“At Phoebe Sumter, we take our responsibility to our community seriously,” said PSMC President Carlyle Walton. “Providing quality care is just one aspect of that responsibility. We also invest in the health and wellbeing of those we have the privilege of serving in and around Sumter County by hosting health fairs, sponsoring community gardens, working with partners to ensure families have access to healthy produce, providing millions of dollars in charity care and leading other programs and projects that benefit our community.”
Georgia Watch hopes the new rating system will provide a consistent framework for evaluating how not-for-profit hospitals align their financial resources with their public mission. According to the organization’s website, “the Scorecard will support a more sustainable healthcare marketplace that better serves patients, employers, and communities across Georgia while also allowing us to better understand the challenges nonprofit hospitals face.”
The full Georgia Hospital Accountability Scorecard can be found at www.georgiawatch.org/scorecard.
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