Knapp 1 of only 4 hospitals in Rio Grande Valley,1 of 253 hospitals in the nation, named as a 5-Star “Forbes Top Hospital 2026”
WESLACO, Feb. 2026 – Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, a member of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, is one of only four hospitals in the Rio Grande Valley to be recognized for 5-star care for top patient outcomes by a national magazine, Forbes.
The “Forbes Top Hospital 2026” award is the latest accolade for Knapp Medical Center, which serves as the only acute care hospital in the Mid-Valley area, with 227 beds.
Knapp Medical Center was one of only 14 hospitals in the state to receive the overall 5-star recognition from Forbes, a renowned business publication. Of approximately 2,500 hospitals across the nation that were analyzed by Forbes, 253 hospitals nation-wide earned an overall 5-star score.
In addition, Knapp Medical Center is the only hospital in Hidalgo County to receive both a 5-star score from Forbes and also an “A” grade for patient safety for the fall of 2025 from the Leapfrog Group (also a national healthcare ratings organization). The only other hospital in the Rio Grande Valley to receive both awards is Knapp’s sister hospital in Prime Healthcare, Harlingen Medical Center — which was also named to the 5-star “Forbes Top Hospitals 2026” list, and also received an “A” grade for patient safety from the Leapfrog Group.
Rene J. Lopez, MD, FACHE, RRT, CEO for Knapp Medical Center, said the hospital’s recognition is a testament to the work of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals who are dedicated to providing “the highest-quality healthcare to residents of the Mid-Valley – every patient, every time.”
“This outstanding ranking is a demonstration of the level of commitment our physicians and employees have in ensuring that our patients receive safe, high-quality, compassionate, and personalized care,” Mr. Lopez added.
Pablo Loredo III, RN, Chief Nursing Officer for Knapp Medical Center, said the recognition helps demonstrate the excellent care that is being provided to patients at Knapp — and is an important factor for residents to recognize when they weigh their healthcare options.
Dr. Sunny Bhatia, President and Corporate Chief Medical Officer of Prime Healthcare, noted, “To be recognized on Forbes’ inaugural Top Hospitals list is both an honor and a meaningful validation of Prime Healthcare’s physician-led model of delivering exceptional clinical care. These distinctions highlight the expertise, compassion, and commitment of our caregivers, who elevate standards of care in every community we serve. I am deeply proud of their dedication and inspired by what we are building together to strengthen community hospitals throughout the nation.”
In evaluating hospitals nation-wide for the awards, Forbes assigned a star rating, from one star to five stars, across four categories to calculate a hospital’s overall score. According to Forbes’ website, this methodology placed the most weight on clinical outcomes (such as rates of mortality, survival, infection and readmissions) so that patient outcomes have the most impact on each hospital’s overall rating.
Forbes added that it selected 56 publicly-reported hospital quality measures for inclusion in the methodology. These measures include hospital metrics such as “surgical site infection after colon surgery,” “30-day readmission after discharge,” “patients who left the emergency department before being seen,” and “inpatients who reported they were given information about recovery,” according to Forbes.
The 56 selected measures were then grouped into four categories: Outcomes (consisting of 25 measures), Best Practices (10 measures), Value (7 measures) and Patient Experience (14 measures). Each category was then assigned a weight, with the weights determining each category’s impact on a hospital’s overall rating. The category weights were: Outcomes (55% of the weight), Best Practices (20%), Value (15%) and Patient Experience (10%).
The 2026 rankings were Forbes’ first, inaugural quality rankings of U.S. general acute care hospitals under the “Forbes Top Hospitals” rankings. On its website, Forbes states that it is launching its Forbes Top Hospitals 2026 list as “a new tool — curated through extensive research and analysis — that is designed to provide consumers with unbiased information to help them choose the best hospitals for their healthcare needs.”
“This inaugural hospital rating system aims to serve the interests of patients and provide healthcare leaders with empirical benchmarks to compare quality performance against their peers,” Forbes added.
Knapp Medical Center has also been highly ranked in several other awards programs, including receiving 5-star awards for treatment of hip fracture, treatment of diabetic emergencies, and treatment of heart attack for 2026 from Healthgrades, a national company which specializes in research and information about healthcare.
For more information on the new “Forbes Top Hospital 2026” awards, and to view a complete list of hospitals across the nation who received the 5-Star recognition, please visit: www.forbes.com/lists/top-hospitals/.
For more information on award-winning patient care in the Rio Grande Valley, please visit www.KnappMed.org.