Salina Regional Health Center’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit was recently recognized by Newsweek as part of its America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2026 report. The program was ranked sixth in Kansas and is the only inpatient physical rehabilitation center outside of northeast Kansas to make the list.
Salina Regional Health Center offers a 15-bed inpatient acute rehabilitation unit within the hospital that provides physical therapy, occupational therapy, recreational therapy, speech therapy/audiology services, social services and chaplaincy services along with nursing care. The program is part of the hospital’s efforts to provide a continuum of care for patients across the region.
“Inpatient rehabilitation is unique in that it takes dedication from an entire team, which includes physicians, therapists and nursing – and buy-in from patients – to have successful outcomes,” said MaKayla Johansen, PT, DPT, program director for Salina Regional’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit.
“Our program has been focused on making an impact for the entire region so families can receive the care they need close to home. We not only serve internal patients at
Salina Regional for their recoveries – we also have been working to expand external admissions so that if patients have to go to a metro location for specialized care, they can still come back closer to home for their rehabilitation needs.”
The America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2026 report evaluated centers across four pillars that offer different perspectives on the rehabilitation experience: clinical quality, professional reputation, quality designations and patient experience. Much of the report’s assessment uses risk-standardized quality measures published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services including patient safety, outcomes, medication management, readmissions and efficiency. The rankings also incorporate recommendations and assessments from health care professionals, specialized accreditations and designations from CARF International and the
Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center and patient reviews on Google. View the entire report from Newsweek at https://rankings.newsweek.com/americasbest-physical-rehabilitation-centers-2026/kansas#ranking-table
America’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers 2026, Kansas hospital rankings:
1. University of Kansas Hospital, Kansas City
2. Saint Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute at Saint Lukes South Hospital, Overland Park
3. Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital, Topeka
4. MidAmerica Rehabilitation Hospital, Overland Park
5. Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park
6. Salina Regional Health Center, Salina