By Jerry Seibenmark
Kansas Spine & Specialty Hospital was ranked as No. 1 in the nation for medical excellence in spinal fusion, according to a health care data firm.
CareChex ranked Kansas Spine the highest in that procedure among 226 hospitals as part of its America’s Top Quality Hospitals 2015 ranking. 
CareChex, a division of Comparion Medical Analytics, analyzed three years of public data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to compile the rankings for its rankings.
Kansas Spine also ranked No. 2 in the nation for patient safety in spinal surgery, behind the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, according to CareChex.
The hospital said in a news release that it contracts with CareChex for its hospital quality rating analysis.