JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Ballad Health President and CEO Alan Levine spoke with News Channel 11 Friday on the hospital system’s rankings and recognitions it has received from different organizations.

A release from Ballad on Thursday stated that the system has received accolades from organizations like U.S. News, Quantros Inc.’s CareChex awards, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association.

“This celebration is really for our team members and the physicians that we partner with throughout the region that all do the best that they can to help take care of their neighbors,” Levine said.

The release included a list of recognitions that span areas like overall hospital care, trauma, orthopedic, neurological, surgical and pulmonary care. To see the full list included in the release, click here.

“It was great news,” Levine said. “After the last two years, our team members, our 12,000 team members and physicians, they have been through a lot. But what all these publications coming out, talking about the quality of care in our hospitals, tells us is that our team never quit focusing on what was important and that is [taking] the best care of people that you can.”

Levine said Ballad hospitals are among the top 10% in performance out of all the nation’s hospitals. He also said Ballad’s recognitions could be a motivator for the region to expand.

“When businesses and companies are looking to locate somewhere, there is two or three things they care about,” Levine said. “Number one: the quality of the schools. Number two: the quality of health care. And number three: the workforce. The quality of the health care in this region is as good as you’ll get anywhere, and that’s not me saying this. This is several well-respected national organizations that are saying we’re delivering high quality, safe and effective medical care.”

Levine told News Channel 11 Ballad Health still has plenty of vacant nursing positions. However, he said Ballad’s turnover rate has dropped to below 15%.

“Which is better than the national average and better than we were before COVID.”