The University of Kansas Health System Great Bend Campus announces it has been recognized as a top 10 performer in the 2026 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Ranking by Vizient. Great Bend Campus was one of 220 Vizient provider clients in the small community hospital cohort recognized for demonstrating excellence in delivering high-quality care.
Great Bend Campus improved from No. 21 to No. 7 in the small community hospital cohort, with strong performances in mortality, safety and variation in care.
“Our formula starts with our people: supporting a strong team and keeping quality and service at the center of everything we do,” says John Worden, Great Bend Campus CEO. “Being recognized by Vizient as the No. 7 hospital among 220 small community hospitals is a tribute to the incredible work every member of our team does each day. This recognition reflects the consistent progress we’re making in our march toward becoming the safest hospital and delivering the best possible outcomes for our patients in the region. I’m proud of our people and their commitment to those we serve.”
The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study measures performance on the quality of patient care in six domains: safety, mortality, effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness and equity of care. The study factors in measures from the Vizient Clinical Data Base and includes performance data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey and the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network.
The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study helps participating hospitals and health systems understand their performance against their peers and identifies structures and processes associated with high performance in quality and safety across a broad spectrum of patient care activity. The recognition period is for work spanning July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
“Delivering consistently high-quality care requires organizations to align clinical expertise, operations discipline and a continuous focus on improvement,” said David Levine, chief medical officer, Vizient. “The hospitals recognized this year demonstrate what is possible when that commitment is embedded across the organization, resulting in better performance and, most importantly, better care for patients.”
The University of Kansas Health System’s Paola Hospital (recognized in the survey by its former name, Miami County Medical Center) was also recognized in the small community hospital cohort, as No. 1 among the 220 hospitals, with recognition for performance in mortality, safety, variation in care and patient centeredness.