Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi is one of the top hospitals in the country, according to a list published this month.

Fortune/IBM Watson Health released their annual list of the Top 100 hospitals and BMH-NM was named as a top performing hospital in a medium community. It is the the first time the hospital has been recognized as one of the top hospitals in the country.

IBM Watson Health identified the top hospitals from an evaluation of 2,675 short-term, acute care and non-federal hospitals in the US. The list recognizes excellence in clinical outcomes, operational efficiency, patient experience and financial health. IBM Watson established the list to help identify best practices that may help other healthcare organizations achieve consistent, balanced and sustainable high performance.

“Baptist North Mississippi is dedicated to our mission of saving lives and serving the surrounding communities at a time when our mission has never been more important,” said Bill Henning, CEO and hospital administrator. “Delivering compassionate, quality care during a pandemic has been a challenge, which is why this honor is especially significant. We are grateful for the selfless dedication of our leaders, physicians, staff and our frontline caregivers for their remarkable service.”

This year’s rankings of top hospitals also introduced a measure of hospital’s contributions to community health with a focus on equity developed by a team of experts at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hospitals were surveyed across three components: Assessing hospital contributions to community health as a provider of critical services for community health and preventive care; Identifying ways that hospitals contribute to community health as a community partner teaming up with local organizations to implement critical programs; Focusing on ways that hospitals promote community health through their practices as anchor institutions supporting local economic and social progress.

Since March 19, 2020, when Lafayette County reported its first case of the novel coronavirus, BMH-NM has been at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Oxford and the rest of the county. The hospital took in COVID-19 patients from Lafayette County but also the surrounding counties and communities who did not have the level of healthcare BMH-NM was able to provide.

“Certainly over the past year we have realized more than ever what critical partner our healthcare industry and local hospital are to our community,” said Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill. “Baptist Hospital and Bill Henning were involved in every conversation that we had, mapping out a path forward through the pandemic. They were great partners to us through a very long year and remain a very important part of our community.”