St. Luke’s University Health Network has received statewide recognition for its for outstanding performance in patient safety.
The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) is recognizing four St. Luke’s campuses through its 2026 Excellence in Patient Safety Recognition program. The recognition honors Pennsylvania’s top-performing hospitals that have demonstrated low rates of health care-associated infections.
HAP is recognizing 20 hospitals this year based on their performance during 2025, four of which are St. Luke’s:
- St. Luke’s Anderson Campus
- St. Luke’s University Hospital – Bethlehem Campus
- St. Luke’s Monroe Campus 5-year recognition recipient
- St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus
This is the fifth consecutive year that St. Luke’s Monroe Campus has been honored through the Excellence in Patient Safety Recognition program. The hospital’s team received special recognition for demonstrating consistent, outstanding patient safety outcomes annually from 2022–2026.
St. Luke’s University Hospital’s Bethlehem Campus has been honored all eight years. The Bethlehem Campus is the only hospital in the state to earn this important designation every year that HAP has awarded it.
“This is one more affirmation of our commitment to patient care and safety to go along with earning straight A’s from Leapfrog for hospital safety, and why St. Luke’s is recognized by Modern Healthcare and Premier as one of the Top 15 Health System,” said Donna Sabol, St. Luke’s Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer. “St. Luke’s record is so impressive because our doctors, nurses and other caregivers are fully committed to our Network’s mission to deliver the very best care to patients.”
HAP identifies top-performing hospitals using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network. To be recognized, hospitals must perform better than the mean standardized infection ratio in three key measures: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and Clostridioides difficile infections.
“Hospitals are unwavering in their commitment to providing safe, high-quality care for the communities they serve,” HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings said. “HAP is proud to recognize the leading Pennsylvania hospital teams that have embraced continuous quality improvement, strengthened patient safety, and achieved outstanding results through their dedication and hard work.”
The 2026 honorees will be formally announced during HAP’s Patient Safety, Quality, and Equity Symposium September 3.
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. Additionally, the St. Luke’s College of Health Sciences opened in 2026.
In a 2025 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, St. Luke’s received the highest quality score of the nation’s recognized three highest performing health systems. 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 Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2026, all of the Network’s eligible hospital campuses were awarded Medicare’s highest ratings for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. The Network also earned straight A’s for safety from Leapfrog across all of its acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 12 years in a row, including in 2026 when the Network was identified as THE #1 MEDIUM-SIZE HEALTH SYSTEM 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:
Gary R. Blockus
