HAP Achievement Awards: AHN Grove City

July 10, 2026

HAP's annual Achievement Awards honor hospitals and health systems for their innovation, creativity, and commitment to patient care. The Achievement Awards showcase and share member hospitals’ and health systems’ successful programs and best practices.

AHN Grove City received the Excellence in Care Award for spearheading a quality initiative focused on early sepsis detection and coordinated, evidence-based care.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The challenge:  After earlier gains in sepsis care, improvement efforts slowed, bundle compliance declined, and sepsis-related readmissions increased.
• Addressing the Issue:  A root cause review identified staff turnover, physician leadership changes, handoff communication gaps, and competing priorities as the main reasons progress had slowed.
• Taking Action:  A multidisciplinary sepsis workgroup reinforced early screening, strengthened handoff tools, expanded staff and physician education, promoted sepsis order sets and smart notes, and kept sepsis awareness visible through huddles, dashboards, recognition, and community outreach.
• Results:  Compliance improved from 64.6% in 2024 to 85.4% through November 2025, sepsis triage screening reached 100%, and sepsis-related readmissions decreased.
• Advancing Care:  The effort helped move sepsis care from a focused improvement project to a shared culture of early recognition and response, with the team noting “the pervasive nature of our early detection and treatment focus has created a palpable culture of sepsis awareness throughout the hospital and community.”

Congratulations to AHN Grove City for its outstanding efforts to enhance patient safety and care outcomes. Learn more about the project online.

Questions about the HAP Achievement Awards may be directed to HAP Member Services at (717) 561-5359.