— Mayo Clinic Health System hospitals in Fairmont and New Prague have been named “top performers” in a report released by the Joint Commission, a leading national accrediting body for hospitals.

Other hospitals, notably Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, were not on the list.

But the “top performers” list — which recognizes excellence in care for heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, children’s asthma, stroke and venous thromboembolism, and inpatient psychiatric services — is a tough one to make.

 Kevin Burns, regional director of public affairs for Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, pointed out that in addition to the Mankato hospital, other major hospitals in Minnesota also didn’t make the list, including St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, and Hennepin County Medical Center and Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis.

Burns said they’re unsure where they wound up in the rankings, but he suspects the Mankato hospital was among the more than 580 facilities around the country the Joint Commission says just barely missed the mark.

The Joint Commission’s report, in addition to listing the hospitals that earned “top performer” status, also released its list of key findings.

The number of hospitals recognized as top performers increased by more than 50 percent from last year. This year, 620 hospitals made the list, representing 18 percent of all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals reporting data for evaluation. Each hospital earned a 95 percent rating in two measurement areas. All data are from 2011.

Of the 620 hospitals, 244 of them are on the list for the second consecutive year. And as Burns said, another nearly 600 hospitals came very close to earning top-performer status.

“These hospitals are on track to potentially achieve Top Performer status next year,” the report says.

Burns said the fact that two Mayo hospitals in the region were listed as top performers illuminates the beauty of having a system approach to health care. He said Mayo officials will evaluate what is being done well at Fairmont and New Prague and “replicate best practices” at other facilities.

Having said that, he did say there are a few areas where they’d already identified a need for improvement.

He said they’ve implemented a team specifically to look at outcomes pertaining to heart failure. There’s another team looking at improving heart failure performance systemwide.

“This is good news, clearly, to be recognized for the work we’re doing in Fairmont and New Prague,” Burns said. “Obviously, our goal is to have all of our facilities on this list every year, and that’s what we’ll continue to work to do. ... This report doesn’t tell us anything we’re not already aware of.”