Vermillion recognized with quality award for rural health

Contact:
Jon Berg
Sanford Health Media Relations
605-366-2432 / Jon.Berg@sanfordhealth.org

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — As part of National Rural Health Day, Sanford Vermillion Medical Center has been recognized with a 2025 Performance Leadership Award for excellence in quality.

Compiled by the Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards honor top quartile performance (i.e., 75th percentile or above) among rural hospitals in quality, outcomes and/or patient perspective.

“The care our team provides every day for patients in rural South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota is critically important, especially for patients who would otherwise travel several miles for their care,” said Veronica Schmidt, chief executive officer at Sanford Vermillion. We continue to look at ways we can exceed and opportunities to enhance the quality measures we have in place to provide the best quality health care for patients we have the privilege to care for at Sanford Vermillion.”

The Performance Leadership Awards are based on the results of the Chartis Rural Hospital Performance INDEX®, the industry’s most comprehensive and objective assessment of rural hospital performance. INDEX data is relied upon by rural hospitals, health systems with rural footprints, hospital associations and state offices of rural health around the country to measure and monitor performance across several areas impacting hospital operations and finance.

A full list of rural hospitals honored with a Performance Leadership Award for quality can be found here.

About Sanford Health
Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the United States, is dedicated to transforming the health care experience and providing access to world-class health care in America’s heartland. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization has 53,000 employees and serves over 2 million patients and nearly 425,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest including South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The integrated nonprofit health system includes a network of 56 hospitals, 288 clinic locations, 147 senior care communities, 4,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 1,500 active clinical trials and studies. The organization’s transformational virtual care initiative brings patients closer to care with access to 78 specialties. Learn more about Sanford Health’s commitment to shaping the future of rural health care across the lifespan at sanfordhealth.org or Sanford Health News.