Allina Health Faribault Medical Center recognized by Vizient as 2026 Birnbaum Quality Leadership Top Performer

FARIBAULT, Minn. (Oct.12, 2026) — Allina Health Faribault Medical Center announces it has been recognized as a top performer in the 2026 Bernard A. Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Ranking by Vizient®. Faribault Medical Center was one of 24 Vizient provider clients in the Small Community Hospital (SCQA) cohort recognized for demonstrating excellence in delivering high-quality care based on the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study. 

The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study is a leading national tool that measures meaningful safety and quality outcomes. 

"We're honored to have Faribault Medical Center recognized – for the very first time among the top 24 participating Small Community Hospitals nationwide – in the 2026 Vizient Quality and Accountability Ranking,” said Matt Wille, President, Faribault Medical Center. “I'm extremely proud of our providers and care team members, whose dedication made this recognition possible and shows in the care they provide our patients every day."

"This recognition reflects Allina Health’s strong culture of continuous improvement and a commitment to safety,” added Mallory Koshiol, Vice President, System Safety & Quality, Allina Health. “Vizient’s timely data helps us benchmark our safety and quality outcomes, identify opportunities for improvement and set meaningful annual goals that support better care for the communities we serve.”

This year, 1,346 participating hospitals were segmented into seven cohorts for the Vizient Quality and Accountability Study. The study measures performance on the quality of patient care in six domains: safety, mortality, effectiveness, efficiency, patient centeredness and variation in 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, operational discipline and a continuous focus on improvement,” said David Levine, MD, 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.”

Dawn Steffan, RN, manager of patient care services at Faribault Medical Center, accepted this honor on behalf of the hospital team at the annual Vizient Connections Summit held Sept. 23 in Las Vegas. Allina Health care team members also delivered a podium presentation at the conference titled “Mortality Makeover: Building a culture of purposeful, patient-centered care.” The session outlined how Allina Health transformed inpatient mortality and end of life care through a coordinated, system-wide strategy.