UC Davis Medical Center earned a 2002 Consumer Choice Award from the National Research Corporation for having the best overall quality and image of all hospitals in the Sacramento area. UC Davis is one of 152 hospitals in the nation to receive the award.

National Research Corporation annually provides Consumer Choice Awards for the most-preferred hospitals in more than 100 U.S. markets. Winners, published in Modern Healthcare magazine, are determined by consumer perceptions on multiple quality and image ratings collected in NRC's annual Healthcare Market Guide Study. Data found in the guide represents surveys of nearly 140,000 households representing more than 400,000 consumers in the contiguous 48 states and the District of Columbia. Of the 2,500 hospitals named by consumers in the study, the winning 152 rank highest in their Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the Sacramento metropolitan area, consisting of Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer counties, 821 respondents participated in the survey. They were asked to name the top hospital based on four attributes: doctors, nurses, overall quality and overall image or reputation.