Displaying the hospital's Gold Award for quality from ScionHealth are Vaughan Regional's Angela Briggs, Director, Health Information Management; Michael James, CEO; and Karen Holland, Director, Quality.

SELMA, Alabama (May 15, 2026) – Vaughan Regional Medical Center (Vaughan Regional or VRMC) has been named a recipient of ScionHealth’s Gold Award, the second-highest designation for clinical excellence within the company’s National Quality Strategy (NQS). This recognition places Vaughan Regional among a select group of ScionHealth hospitals that achieved exceptional performance in 2025 – a noteworthy distinction given the strong quality focus across the entire system.

“We are excited to be honored among the leaders in quality at parent company ScionHealth and its network of more than 75 hospitals across 26 states,” said Michael James, CEO of Vaughan Regional Medical Center. “This recognition is a testament to our team’s tireless pursuit of clinical excellence and safety. It reflects well upon our mission to deliver superior, safe care and provides our community with the peace of mind that high-quality healthcare is available right here in Selma.”

A Culture of Excellence

The ScionHealth National Quality Strategy promotes best practices and measures the success of its hospitals’ quality performance over a 12-month period. The rigorous program enables and empowers hospitals to continuously improve patient care, safety, and satisfaction with an underlying goal of zero patient harm. The company’s Gold Award recipients for the 2025 year outperformed all but a handful of ScionHealth hospitals while achieving exceptional quality performance.

“ScionHealth is proud of the team at Vaughan Regional for achieving the 2025 Gold Award,” said Russell Pigg, President, Community Hospital Division of ScionHealth. “Over the past three years, they’ve continued to build upon a culture where quality and safety are at the center of everything they do. This award celebrates their expertise and their commitment to best practices, acknowledging a team that consistently goes above and beyond to provide the best possible care for their community."

NQS and the Six Domains of Quality

The NQS framework evaluates hospitals across six essential domains of healthcare quality established by the Institute of Medicine. Vaughan Regional’s Gold status was achieved through high marks in the following areas:

• Safe: Prioritizing harm reduction by minimizing infections (CLABSI, CAUTI, C. diff) and preventing falls through advanced safety training and reporting.
• Effective: Delivering evidence-based care, specifically through excellence in sepsis prevention, appropriate blood utilization, and opioid stewardship.
• Patient-Centered: Ensuring physical comfort and emotional well-being by involving families in care plans and achieving high HCAHPS patient survey scores.
• Timely: Reducing harmful delays by optimizing Emergency Department throughput and improving access to primary care.
• Efficient: Reducing waste and maximizing resources through strong teamwork, antibiotic stewardship, and improved length-of-stay metrics.
• Equitable: Closing the gap in healthcare disparities to ensure every patient has the opportunity to achieve their highest health potential.

About Vaughan Regional Medical Center

Vaughan Regional Medical Center is a sole community provider hospital located in historic Selma, Alabama. The 175-bed Joint Commission-accredited facility employs approximately 400 people. The city of Selma has a population of approximately 25,000 with a secondary service area of 90,000. The medical staff consists of more than 75 physicians serving 22 medical specialties. The hospital's campus is in Dallas County, which is nestled along the banks of the Alabama River.

At Vaughan Regional Medical Center, our expert, caring professionals strive daily to ensure that we not just meet but exceed expectations in providing quality health care to our patients. More importantly, the Vaughan family prides itself on providing excellent care and customer service to the patients, family members, and visitors on our campus. Learn more at VaughanRegional.com/about.

About ScionHealth

ScionHealth strives to deliver on its promise of high-quality, patient-centered hospital care by empowering the hands that heal to do what they do best. The health system is focused on driving innovation, serving its communities, and investing in people and technology to deliver compassionate patient care and excellent health outcomes. Based in Louisville, ScionHealth operates 77 hospital campuses (63 specialty hospitals and 14 community hospital campuses and associated health systems) in 26 states. For more information, please visit ScionHealth.com.