HAP Achievement Awards: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

September 11, 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.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia received the Living the Vision Award for transforming youth substance use disorder care through an innovative, systemwide program that expands early identification, treatment access, and harm-reduction services.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The challenge:  Rising overdoses and substance-related deaths made opioid and substance use a top community health priority, while pediatric treatment resources remained limited and fragmented.
• Addressing the Issue:  Community health data and an internal review identified several gaps, including leftover prescription opioids in homes, inconsistent adolescent screening, limited youth treatment options, and no structured pediatric inpatient withdrawal guidance.
• Taking Action:  What began as the Comprehensive Opioid Response and Education program evolved into EMPOWER, a coordinated pediatric response that strengthened screening, created guidance for adolescent withdrawal, expanded naloxone access, supported safe medication disposal, and connected youth and families to treatment resources..
• Results:  The program created a first-of-its-kind adolescent withdrawal pathway, expanded licensed substance use services to three care locations, improved naloxone co-prescribing and distribution, and secured more than $2.6 million to support long-term impact.
• Advancing Care:  EMPOWER helped close long-standing gaps in substance use care for children and adolescents, showing that “the overdose crisis can and should be addressed as an Enterprise priority in pediatric settings, too.”

Congratulations to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for its innovative work that is transforming care, improving health, and enhancing value for a healthier Pennsylvania. Learn more about the project online.

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