HAP Announces 2024 Achievement Award Winners

Thirteen Pennsylvania hospital and health system projects recognized for improving health

Harrisburg, PA (February 20, 2024) – The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) is recognizing 13 projects led by Pennsylvania health care teams that personify hospitals’ mission to provide high-quality care and improve their communities’ health.

Beginning in 1978, HAP’s annual Achievement Awards program recognizes hospitals and health systems that are employing innovative approaches to strengthening the safety and quality of care, enhancing operations and patients’ experience, and partnering with their communities to address public health needs. This year’s winners were selected from 93 entries.

HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings said: “We are proud to announce the winners of HAP’s 2024 Achievement Awards, showcasing innovative, patient-centered projects that are making a difference in Pennsylvania. Strong health systems make strong communities and hospitals are central to our shared mission for a healthy Pennsylvania.”

Entries are judged in two divisions based on the organization’s size and selected among the following five categories: Workforce Innovators, Optimal Operations, Excellence in Care, Community Champions, and In Safe Hands. The Living the Vision Award—celebrating innovation and bold interventions that transform the patient experience, address overall health, and improve value—is selected from the overall pool of entries across all size divisions. Entries were scored on specific criteria including results, adaptability, and how the goal of advancing health equity was embedded in the initiative.

The 2024 Achievement Award winners are:

Living the Vision Award

• Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital—for developing a “Food Farmacy” program pairing nutrition counselors with access to healthy food.

Workforce Innovators Award

• Reading Hospital—for a high school internship program to expand the pipeline for students interested in health care.
• Pennsylvania Hospital—for developing an innovative peer support program for nurses working the night shift.
• West Virginia University Medicine Uniontown Hospital—for leveraging culture, governance, and leadership to improve patient safety.

Optimal Operations Award

• Main Line Health—for improving emergency department throughput to reduce delays in care.
• Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital—for standardizing CMS Quality Indicator Scoring for acute inpatient rehabilitation patients at discharge.
• Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital—for significantly decreasing left without being seen rates and wait times in their emergency department.

Excellence In Care Award

• Temple Health—for developing a patient-centered approach to remove barriers for accessing preventive colorectal cancer screenings.
• Penn Medicine Chester County Hospital—for improving postpartum outcomes and addressing health care disparities among Hispanic patients.

Community Champions Award

• St. Luke’s University Health Network—for utilizing strategic partnerships and sustainable initiatives to improve food access and address health equity in underserved communities.
• Independence Health System Clarion Hospital—for care coordination implementation ensuring patients have access to preventive health care and supporting community resources after discharge.

In Safe Hands Award

• Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center—for implementing controls to decrease central line-associated blood stream infections in pediatric oncology patients.
• Nazareth Hospital—for implementing a focused vascular access team to eliminate central line-associated blood stream infections.

The winners will be honored at HAP’s annual Leadership Summit April 3–4 in Harrisburg. Additional information and details about this year’s award winning initiatives are available online.

About HAP: HAP is a statewide membership services organization that represents more than 230 hospitals as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online.

 

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