Wesley Healthcare named one of the nation's 100 Top Hospitals® – earns Everest Award and named No. 1 teaching hospital

Wichita, Kan. — Wesley Healthcare today was identified as one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals^®, named the No. 1 community teaching hospital in the nation and earned the Everest Award, according to an independent quality analysis provided by Premier, Inc.

To create the list, an objective, quantitative analysis of publicly available data was conducted to identify the top hospitals in the United States. The primary purpose of Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals^® program is to inspire hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities. Participation in the study is not application-based, and award winners do not pay to market their honor.

Everest Award Recipients

In addition to the top hospital performers, Wesley Healthcare received the Everest Award in 2025 for setting national benchmarks for both the fastest rate of improvement and highest current year performance on Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals^® balanced scorecard. This award recognizes the boards, executives and medical staff leaders who developed and executed strategies that drove the highest rates of improvement, resulting in the highest performance in the U.S. at the end of five years.

“Receiving the Everest Award is a testament to the dedication and collaboration of our entire team,” said Bill Voloch, president and CEO of Wesley Healthcare. “It’s a reflection of the commitment and vision shared by our board, executives, medical staff and every member of our organization. Together, we’ve set national benchmarks and are committed to continuing this journey of excellence for years to come.”

Top Teaching Hospital

Wesley Medical Center earned the No. 1 spot among Top Teaching Hospitals (community-sized) in the nation, earning five stars for clinical outcomes, operation efficiency and financial health. Wesley has populated the 100 Top list for six years.

“I’m so proud that Wesley continues to play a leading role in educating the next generation of physicians,” said Dr. Lowell Ebersole, chief medical officer at Wesley Healthcare. “This recognition means a great deal to our physicians, as it acknowledges their efforts to pass on the passion they have for patient care, and the high standards they demand of themselves and those around them when it comes to taking care of their community.”

Performance of Facilities on Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals^® Program List

This year’s analysis compared the study’s top performing hospitals to a peer group of similar hospitals and found that the 100 Top Hospitals^® delivered better outcomes while operating more efficiently. Compared to their peers, this year’s top performers achieved:

• 39 percent fewer inpatient deaths than peer hospitals.
• 26.5 percent fewer patients with complications.
• 32 percent fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
• 18 percent lower inpatient expense per discharge.
• 0.4-day shorter average length of stay.
• A better patient experience at top performing hospitals compared to the remaining peer hospitals, with a top-box Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) score of 73 percent versus 68 percent at peer hospitals.

These outcomes add up to meaningful differences. According to the study’s analysis, if all hospitals operated at the level of this year’s top performers, more than 331,000 additional lives could have been saved, over 611,000 additional patients could have been complication-free and more than $15.1 billion in inpatient costs could have been saved for the 2025 study year.

This analysis is based on Medicare patients included in this study. If the same standards were applied to all inpatients, the impact could have been even greater.

“This program recognizes the dedication of our nation’s top hospitals to consistently deliver high-quality care while working to continuously improve quality, patient experience and operational efficiency,” said David Zito, Premier’s President, Performance Services. “The program’s transparent, non-biased and actionable data helps set benchmarks for hospitals nationwide and enables leaders to make data-driven decisions that benefit patients and the communities we serve. Wesley Healthcare excels across key performance indicators, which can directly lead to higher quality patient outcomes, with fewer readmissions and complications.”