FLORENCE, Alabama – North Alabama Medical Center (NAMC) announced today it has achieved national recognition with a five-star rating for Outpatient Back and Neck Surgery from Healthgrades for a second consecutive year.

Healthgrades, which releases the next year's specialty achievements every October, is the leading quality outcomes third party ratings site, analyzing clinical data for every short-term acute care hospital in the country. The achievement reflects NAMC’s commitment to consistently delivering the best care possible and place the organization in the upper echelon of hospitals for specialty care nationwide.

“Earning this recognition again from Healthgrades underscores our commitment to providing the highest quality of care to our community,” said Mike Howard, CEO and Market President of North Alabama Medical Center. “Every member of our team plays a vital role in ensuring our patients get the best possible care so they can get back to doing what they love.”

To identify the top-performing hospitals for the most common outpatient procedures and conditions, Healthgrades focused exclusively on patient outcomes. As part of its analysis for the 2026 awards, Healthgrades evaluated risk-adjusted mortality and complication rates at short-term acute care facilities that perform critical back and neck surgical procedures in an outpatient environment over the previous year.

Healthgrades found that patients treated at hospitals with nationally recognized outpatient programs from 2022 through 2024 had a demonstrably better chance of a positive outcome than those treated at hospitals that were not recognized for outpatient excellence. Patients having Outpatient Back and Neck Surgery in hospitals with 5-stars have, on average, a 73.6% lower risk of experiencing a complication within a clinically specified timeframe than if they underwent outpatient surgery at a facility with 1-star.

“Healthgrades’ outpatient awards identify the nation’s top-performing hospitals in some of the fastest-growing areas of healthcare, helping consumers find high quality care tailored to their specific needs,” said Alana Biggers, MD, MPH, medical advisor at Healthgrades. “North Alabama Medical Center goes above and beyond to deliver outstanding outcomes for patients undergoing critical outpatient procedures, and we’re proud to recognize it as a national leader in outpatient back and neck surgery.”

NAMC adds the Healthgrades honor to its growing list of recent awards and accolades. In July, NAMC was named among U.S. News & World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Hospitals as a high-performing hospital for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) treatment. The following month, it was also recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review for being one of only two facilities in Alabama to achieve a zero-infection rate in Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). NAMC has also received hospital reaccreditation from the Joint Commission as well as recertification as a Primary Stroke Center.