St. Luke’s University Health Network has received a statewide award for its initiative to standardize suicide risk assessments and interventions across the Network.

The initiative was one of 12 recognized by The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) through its 2026 Achievement Awards. Started in 1978, the program recognizes hospitals and health systems that are taking 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.

Titled “Standardization of Suicide Risk Assessment and Interventions Across a Multisite Health Care Network,” the initiative improved patient safety and reduced 1:1 observation costs by standardizing suicide risk screening and observation protocols across the Network. More specifically, results included:

• 44% reduction in non-compliant continual 1:1 observation orders
• 49% reduction in emergency department 1:1 observation costs and 19% reduction in inpatient costs
• $2.93 million in total cost avoidance without compromising patient safety

St. Luke’s competed against organizations of a similar size for the Optimal Operations Award, which celebrates hospitals’ and health systems’ innovation to improve operations and strengthen the care they provide for patients and the community. In total, there were 125 entries for this year’s Achievement Awards.

“The 2026 HAP Achievement Awards highlight the innovative ways hospitals are delivering outstanding results for patients,” said HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings. “Hospitals are vital to Pennsylvania, working inside and outside their walls to improve health and strengthen the communities they serve.”

Additional information about the awards program and detailed descriptions of the winning projects are available online.

St. Luke’s has received 26 HAP Achievement awards since 2010 – the most of any health care system in the state.

 

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4.5 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley’s biggest employer.

The Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital is based at the Bethlehem Campus.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation’s oldest continuously operated School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 60+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 550+ residents and fellows.

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ranked St. Luke’s #1 – ahead of Houston Methodist and Mayo Clinic, two of the nation’s most prestigious institutions – as the nation’s top health system for quality, safety and patient experience. This objective recognition, based on public data reported to the government, reaffirms St. Luke’s preeminent position as THE BEST OF THE BEST among the most respected health care systems in the United States.

St. Luke’s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2025, the Network earned straight A’s from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. 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 SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.

Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy