Onvida Health named among nation’s top workplaces for nurses

Onvida Health’s nurses just helped put Yuma’s largest health system on a national shortlist, with the Yuma hospital system named one of Nursegrid’s Great Workplaces for Nurses for 2026. Out of 7,700 facilities represented on the platform, only 204 hospitals and health care facilities across the country earned the distinction, a level of selectivity that makes the honor more than a plaque for the lobby.

That matters in Yuma County because staffing is not an abstract problem here. When nurses stay, hospitals can hold together bedside teams, move patients through emergency care faster, and keep more services available close to home. Onvida’s recognition lands in a market where its own workforce and hiring pipeline shape how quickly residents can get treated, how smoothly families move through care, and how well the county’s biggest health system can keep up with demand.

Nursegrid said the inaugural 2026 list was built entirely from direct nurse feedback from more than 650,000 active users nationwide. The ratings reflected the conditions that nurses say matter most on the job: workplace culture, leadership support, collaboration among care teams and opportunities for professional growth. Those are the same factors that often decide whether a nurse stays, and whether a hospital can avoid the churn that leaves units short-handed.

Cassie Mueller, Onvida Health’s senior vice president and chief nursing officer, said the recognition reflects the system’s purpose of building a healthier tomorrow and serving the same community where staff members, patients and families live. In Yuma, that local tie is central. Onvida is not a distant corporate brand; it is the county’s dominant health system, one that residents rely on for emergency care, specialty appointments and inpatient treatment.

Onvida says its network includes a hospital with more than 400 inpatient beds, 40-plus outpatient clinics, two emergency departments and more than 450 providers across 50 specialties. The system employs more than 4,000 people and works with hundreds of volunteers. An economic impact study found that Onvida generated $1.5 billion in total economic output in Yuma County in 2025 and employed more than 4,700 people, or 14.4 percent of the county workforce.

The health system traces its roots to 1958, when it began as Parkview Hospital. It later became Yuma Regional Medical Center before rebranding as Onvida Health in 2024. The organization also says it is part of the Mayo Clinic Care Network and has invested more than $210 million in future projects, including a Health Careers Center with Arizona Western College, a San Luis campus and a Yuma VA Outpatient Clinic.

That broader push will continue this summer, when Onvida and the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix launch a three-year Primary Care Accelerated Pathway in July 2026, with clinical training based entirely at Onvida in Yuma. The national nurses recognition gives the county another sign that the region’s biggest health employer is trying to strengthen both care quality and the workforce that delivers it.