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Harrisburg, PA—St. Luke’s University Health Network earned four Achievement Award from The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) for its outstanding efforts to improve health care in the state.

Twelve awards, announced Thursday, were selected from 91 total award submissions and were chosen for their exceptional work and innovation in patient care, community outreach and staff leadership.

“This is an outstanding achievement,” said St. Luke’s Vice President and Chief Quality Officer Donna Sabol. “St Luke’s continues to hold the distinction of winning the most HAP Achievement Awards of any health system in the state, having won 19 awards since 2010.”

St Luke’s winning projects include the following:

• “Improving Sepsis Core Measure Compliance through the use of a Predictive Analytic supported Sepsis Alert Protocol” submitted by Charles Sonday, CRNP at St. Luke’s Allentown. This project won in the “Excellence in Care” Award category.

   

• “Save a Kidney-Orthopedic Total Joint Acute Kidney Injury Reduction” submitted by Jaclyn Rowbotham, RN, Coordinator, Clinical Quality Improvement. This project won in the “In Safe Hands” Award category.

   

• “Perioperative Services First Case Start Performance Improvement” submitted by Cynthia Rosevelt, RN, OR Director at St. Luke’s Quakertown. This project won in the “Optimal Operations” Award category.

   

• “Don’t Just Do Something-STAND THERE: Reducing  Incidence of Pneumothoraces in High Risk Newborns” submitted by Mary Harrington, RN, Coordinator, Clinical Quality Improvement.  This project won in the” Excellence in Care” Award category.

“HAP congratulates this year’s Achievement Award winners and all entrants for their innovative and creative efforts to transform Pennsylvania’s health care landscape,” said Andy Carter, HAP president and CEO. “This year’s theme—Delivering a Healthy Pennsylvania—speaks to the hospital community’s focus on improving patients’ overall health, and each winner’s work highlights the best of Pennsylvania’s cutting-edge, consumer-focused care.”

Entries were evaluated by a 16-judge panel. The panelists, drawn from Pennsylvania and across the nation, represented the public and private sectors, business organizations, consumer groups and renowned health care quality institutes. The Achievement Awards program began in 1978.

Media Contact:

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of 14,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 300 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $1.9 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only health care system in central-eastern Pennsylvania to earn Medicare’s five-star rating (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health (formerly Truven Health Analytics) repeatedly – six times total and four years in a row including 2018.  It has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.