HAP Announces 2025 Achievement Award Winners

Twelve Pennsylvania hospital and health system projects recognized for improving health

Harrisburg, PA (April 3, 2025)—The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) is recognizing 12 projects led by Pennsylvania health care teams that personify hospitals’ mission to provide high-quality care and improve their communities’ health.

Started 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 108 entries.

“The 2025 HAP Achievement Award winners represent innovative, outstanding projects that are focused on patients,” HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings said. “Hospitals are the heart of Pennsylvania communities and work both within and outside their walls to strengthen health.”

Entries are judged in two divisions based on the organization’s size and selected among the following 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 2025 Achievement Award winners are:

Living the Vision Award

• Pottstown Hospital for implementing an innovative street-based psychiatric serviceline in partnership with the hospital’s Street Medicine Program to bridge critical gaps inbehavioral health access for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Community Champions Award

• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for implementing a nurse-led foodsecurity program that leverages community partnerships, technology, and studentengagement to improve the health of their community.
• Phoenixville Hospital for addressing health disparities through expandedinterpretation and navigation services for Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking patients.

Excellence In Care Award

• UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital for expanding access to perinatal mental healthservices for vulnerable populations by resolving systems gaps and leveragingtechnology.
• Main Line Health for initiating a family-centered approach to prenatal opioid exposureand neonatal withdrawal treatment to mitigate health disparities and improve patientoutcomes.
• UPMC for spearheading a multi-site initiative to increase adherence to evidence-basedsepsis guidelines, resulting in improved neonatal care and reduced maternal-infantseparation.

In Safe Hands Award

• St. Luke’s University Health Network for leveraging predictive analysis tomeasurably improve patient outcomes by proactively identifying at-risk patients.
• Canonsburg Hospital for leading a quality initiative focused on documentation andinterdisciplinary collaboration to significantly reduce hospital-acquired pressure injuries.

Optimal Operations Award

• WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital for optimizing hospital throughput by expediting appropriate discharges and facilitating more efficient patient transitions.
• Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for expanding weekend oncologyinfusion services to reduce inpatient stays, ED visits, and “time toxicity” for cancerpatients.

Workforce Innovators

• WellSpan Health for integrating AI-driven solutions to reduce workforce shortages,clinical burnout and improve care coordination.
• Penn Highlands DuBois for investing in nurses' professional growth and implementingshared decision-making to reduce vacancy rates and improve quality outcomes in a rural community.

The winners will be honored at HAP’s annual Leadership Summit May 12-13 in Hershey. Additional information and details about this year’s award-winning initiatives are available online.