St. Bernard Hospital President and CEO, Mr. Charles Holland, awarded for addressing both the quality and affordability of healthcare.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO was presented today at The Leapfrog Group's annual meeting. This year's recipient is Mr. Charles Holland, President and CEO of St. Bernard Hospital, an independent, Catholic safety-net community hospital proudly serving residents of the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
The award was created by Costs of Care, a leading nonprofit dedicated to cultivating change agents who will lead the creation of a more affordable and equitable health system, in conjunction with The Leapfrog Group, the nation's leading advocate for patient safety and transparency. The award recognizes a hospital and/or health system CEO who has demonstrated courageous and ethical leadership addressing the twin issues of affordability and quality of health care in their community.
Leah Binder, President and CEO of The Leapfrog Group, stated, "We are proud to honor Charles Holland at St. Bernard Hospital with this award. He puts patients first, without compromise, every day, no excuses. As a result, today St. Bernard Hospital is a shining example of the lifesaving power of great leadership."
"We want to encourage healthcare leaders across the U.S. to follow the example of Charles Holland by committing to ethical financial practices and investing in better outcomes for patients," said Chris Moriates, MD, Executive Director of Costs of Care.
The Outstanding Healthcare CEO award is named in honor of Steven Schroeder, MD, Distinguished Professor of Health and Health Care at the University of California San Francisco and former President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Schroeder has spent five decades inspiring and mentoring leaders to forcefully advocate for better quality and more affordable healthcare, and he has inspired leaders of both Costs of Care and The Leapfrog Group.
Dr. Schroeder stated, "Under Charles Holland's dedicated leadership, St. Bernard Hospital was able to document dramatic improvement in quality of care in a neighborhood that faces multiple challenges, while simultaneously preserving access to its services for those in need and keeping costs under control. At a time when medical institutions are beset with multiple problems, Mr. Holland's leadership shows that it is possible for a community hospital to serve its community with style and compassion."
Distinct to Mr. Holland's leadership is his commitment to advancing the stature of St. Bernard Hospital as a community leader. Mr. Holland has been integral in leading the work on establishing the hospital's affordable housing project, the Pediatric Mobile Health Unit program and the St. Bernard Hospital Dental Center. His focus is on programs to keep people well and help prevent disease, and to advance health equity in South Side Chicago communities. In 2016, St. Bernard Hospital opened a state-of-the-art Ambulatory Care Center to extend the comprehensive services offered by the hospital to outpatient treatment.
Under Mr. Holland's leadership, the hospital has improved its Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade to two consecutive "A" Grades in patient safety practices from an "F" in only two years. Most recently, St. Bernard Hospital was awarded a Transformation grant from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, which will allow a collaboration of health equity leaders to establish a Center for Better Aging at St. Bernard Hospital. The center will provide transformative services for geriatric-centered care, addressing unmet needs and improving their wellbeing, while also creating jobs in the community.
"I am honored and humbled to accept such an important award on behalf of St. Bernard Hospital," said Holland. "As a safety-net hospital serving Chicago's South Side, it is our responsibility to provide healthcare for everyone, while promoting and fostering comprehensive community wellness. We forge ahead with our mission to care for the sick and promote the health of all residents of the community regardless of their ability to pay. We are dedicated to advancing safe patient care and the equitable treatment of our community, and I am truly grateful for this recognition."
This year marks the 6th annual Steven Schroeder Award for Outstanding Healthcare CEO. Past recipients of the award include J. Stephen Jones, MD, President and CEO of Inova Health System in Northern Virginia; Joanne M. Conroy, MD, CEO and President of Dartmouth Health in New Hampshire; Mr. Carl S. Armato, President and CEO of Novant Health in North Carolina; Mr. John A. DiAngelo, former President and CEO of Inspira Health in New Jersey; and Gary S. Kaplan, MD, former Chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason in Seattle, Washington.
About Costs of Care
Costs of Care is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating change agents who will lead the creation of a more affordable and equitable health system. Since 2009, Costs of Care has collected personal accounts from physicians, nurses, and patients all over the United States that illustrate routine and high-yield opportunities to improve the value of care delivery. Costs of Care directs the STARS program for medical and interprofessional students, catalyzing grassroots, student-led initiatives to advance health care value in medical education. Costs of Care has also created widely adopted and enduring resources to educate medical trainees and clinicians about how to address health care costs and provide high-value care, including the textbook Understanding Value-Based Healthcare, the "COST" framework for designing value improvement projects, multiple workshops, and free video modules.
In December 2019, Costs of Care launched the Affordability Moonshot - envisioning a world in which "no one has to choose between their life and their life-savings" – informed by an Affordability Framework for health systems, and paired with an Affordability Accelerator in September 2021 with the subsequent publication "The Affordability Accelerator: A Road Map to Improve Patient Out-of-Pocket Costs and Trustworthiness in Health Care" in NEJM Catalyst.
Connect at http://costsofcare.org, be a part of the Moonshot at moonshot.costsofcare.org, and follow on Twitter/Instagram @CostsOfCare.
About The Leapfrog Group
Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps for patient safety. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey and new Leapfrog Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Survey collect and transparently report hospital and ASC performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog's other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections. For more, follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for our newsletter.
Media Contact
September Wallingford, Costs of Care, 1 732-778-3227, [email protected]
SOURCE Costs of Care
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