Telling the Hospital Story 2026 Flip Book
Download and share examples reflecting hospitals' deep commitment to meeting community needs today while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.
Member Resource: Building and Maintaining Public Trust and Confidence
Share these new resources with your communications and leadership teams.
Hospitals Leading the Way to a Healthier America
Hospitals have always been at the heart of community health empowering healthier, happier lives for all.
AHA Launches New Multimedia Advertising Campaign to Promote Hospitals
The campaign includes a commercial that will run on national, cable, and digital TV and digital advertising.
Resources Spotlight Crucial Role of Rural Hospitals and Health Systems
The AHA released new resources to help rural hospitals and health systems share their stories and highlight the vital role they play in their communities.
Creative repurposing saves heart during double-lung transplant
Old technology — applied in new and novel ways — can still be a lifesaver.
All Stories
Ensuring Access to Care
HaysMed, Gove County Medical Center, Scott County Hospital, Clara Barton Medical Center
Kansas
Seven independent rural hospitals have joined forces to launch the Kansas High Value Network, a new collaborative organization designed to expand access to care, improve clinical outcomes and reduce operating costs while preserving local governance.
Ensuring Access to Care
Jefferson Health
Philadelphia, Pa.
In this conversation, Baligh Yehia, M.D., president of Jefferson Health, shares how the organization is rethinking healthcare access through same-day cancer care, virtual primary care, home-based services, and expanded access to clinical trials.
Ensuring Access to Care
LCMC Health
New Orleans, La.
This conversation shares how integrated care models, addiction consult services and peer navigators are improving care transitions and increasing access to evidence-based treatment.
Benefiting Communities
Alaska Native Medical Center
Anchorage, Alaska
In Anchorage, hospital beds are increasingly occupied by patients who are medically ready to leave but have nowhere to go while they wait for short-term nursing and rehabilitation services. To help address this growing challenge, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is building a new skilled nursing facility on the Alaska Native Medical Center campus.
Benefiting Communities
CHI St. Alexius Health Williston
Williston, N.D.
CHI St. Alexius Health Williston has a new outpatient program to address the growing mental health needs of older adults in northwestern North Dakota.
Benefiting Communities
University of New Mexico Hospital Children’s Psychiatric Center
Albuquerque, N.M.
The University of New Mexico Hospital has completed a major expansion and modernization of its Children’s Psychiatric Center in Albuquerque.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Hackensack Meridian Health
Edison, N.J.
Hospital care for people with Parkinson’s disease costs nearly $8 billion annually and places about one in six hospitalized patients at significant risk for an avoidable complication due to healthcare systems that are not designed to meet their unique, time-sensitive needs.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colo.
Children’s Hospital Colorado helped the National Alliance of Sickle Cell Centers develop new national standards to improve how developmental and cognitive challenges are identified and managed in people with sickle cell disease (SCD).
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
Children’s Mercy Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
A 16-year-old Kansas patient is looking toward a future with fewer health limitations after receiving a heart transplant at Children’s Mercy Kansas City.
Prevention and Wellness
Cone Health
Greensboro, N.C.
Maternal mortality remains a critical challenge in the United States, and many pregnancy complications are linked to chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease.
Prevention and Wellness
University of Washington Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Wash.
The University of Washington Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Colorectal Cancer Screening Program is helping more people detect colorectal cancer early through at-home tests, clinician outreach and patient navigation support.
Prevention and Wellness
NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
New York
In this conversation, Gabriela Jimenez Thompson, program lead of Our Story Begins at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, and Liliana Escobar, R.N., NICU head nurse at Bellevue Hospital Center, share how the Our Story Begins program uses books, reading, language and nurse education to strengthen NICU parent engagement, bonding and early childhood development.
Workforce
UAMS, Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas
Arkansas
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Institute for Community Health Innovation has launched the Advancing Doulas and Perinatal Teams Toolkit, a new resource designed to help hospitals better integrate doulas into maternal care teams and improve outcomes for mothers and infants.
Workforce
M Health Farview
Minneapolis, Minn.
Hospitals and health systems can't meet growing patient demand without full leveraging advanced practice providers (APPs).
Workforce
University of Michigan Health-West
Michigan
At University of Michigan Health-West, a unique family story is unfolding through the work of four dedicated nurses from the Bos family.
Ensuring Access to Care
Penn State College of Medicine has launched the Center for Advancing Health Equity in Rural and Underserved Communities. The center's initial focus is on reducing cancer health disparities and improving health literacy and education in cardiovascular health, cancer, and diabetes for minority, underserved, and rural populations.
Ensuring Access to Care
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center’s grant-backed Breast Health Equity Program set out in 2020 to improve rates of up-to-date mammography screening for Black women, while also increasing screening overall for women who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) post-COVID-19 pandemic.
Ensuring Access to Care
The UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, Calif., has teamed up with Doctors Medical Center in Modesto to allow residents to practice medicine in the Central Valley as they train to become board-certified specialists.
Ensuring Access to Care
Survive & Thrive is a program at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital that aims to provide a range of support and care to childhood cancer survivors.
Ensuring Access to Care
Access to high-quality health care is crucial to a community’s well-being, but it’s not the only component of health.
Ensuring Access to Care
In this conversation, Jennifer Richards, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Center for Indigenous Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Jennifer Crawford, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, discuss the perspectives needed to provide maternal care for Indigenous peoples.
Ensuring Access to Care
In this conversation, Kimberly Wozneak, national lead for Age-Friendly Health Systems, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, discusses how the VHA is weaving four foundational age-friendly principles into its care to support the growing number of aging veterans.
Ensuring Access to Care
In observation of Veterans Day, Steve Schwab, CEO of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, and Kara Walker, M.D., executive vice president and chief population health officer at Nemours Children’s Health, discuss how hospitals and health systems can meet the special health care needs for families who sacrifice the most.
Ensuring Access to Care
Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital, part of MaineHealth, is working to ensure children have access to quality oral health care, even before a child gets their first tooth.
Benefiting Communities
Avera Behavioral Health Urgent Care, Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center Emergency Department
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Avera is partnering with Emily’s Hope to make free naloxone, also known as Narcan, available at numerous Avera sites across South Dakota.
Benefiting Communities
Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent
Indianapolis, Ind.
The WNBA’s Indiana Fever has teamed up with the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent to recognize and celebrate some of the hospital’s patients who have overcome significant medical difficulties.
Benefiting Communities
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital
St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury is in the most rural region of an already-rural state. And just like neighbors help each other shovel driveways during Vermont’s legendary winters, NVRH looks to its community to help ensure that the people in their area have the best chance at overall health.
Benefiting Communities
Dosher Memorial Hospital
Southport, N.C.
Southport, N.C., is where the Cape Fear river meets the Atlantic Ocean; the location of Fort Johnston, the first fort constructed in the state of North Carolina; and where the Netflix hit series “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was filmed. It is also the home of Dosher Memorial Hospital, the only independent critical access hospital (CAH) left in the state.
Benefiting Communities
Unity Medical Center
Grafton, N.D.
What was once going to be empty space is now used for everything from staff meetings to community medical events, but its main purpose is serving as the Rural Medical Education Center, supporting Unity's commitment to health care education at all levels.
Benefiting Communities
Edgerton Hospital and Health Services, Edgerton; Grant Regional Health Center, Lancaster; Reedsburg Area Medical Center, Reedsburg; Richland Hospital, Richland Center; Southwest Health, Platteville; St. Croix Regional Medical Center, St. Croix Falls
Ten independent rural hospitals are establishing the Wisconsin High Value Network to expand access to care, share best practices in serving rural populations and control purchasing costs.
Benefiting Communities
Intermountain Health St. Vincent Regional Hospital
Billigns, Mont.
Zack Fievet’s life was forever altered in 2024 when a semi-trailer he was inspecting suddenly released its brakes and ran over him, causing devastating injuries.
Benefiting Communities
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, Ohio
Despite decades of progress, lead exposure remains a serious threat to children's health in Cleveland.
Benefiting Communities
Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center
Woodbridge, Va.
When a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence goes to the Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, they find nurses who have received special training in trauma-informed care. Now, thanks to eight women’s clubs in the Northern Virginia area, they can find even more support.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix
Phoenix, Ariz.
Dr. Paul Sorajja, a nationally recognized leader in interventional cardiology at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, has pioneered a groundbreaking treatment for patients with severe mitral annular calcification (MAC), a condition that previously made heart valve surgery too risky.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Nemours Children’s Health
Orlando, Fla.
When a child has a medical need, they often aren’t sick enough to go into the hospital, they but still need more care than most families can offer at home. In June 2025, Nemours Children’s Health in Orlando, Fla. addressed exactly that situation with the launch of Advanced Care at Home.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Houston Methodist
Texas
Marc Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist and the 2026 AHA board chair, speaks with James Merlino, M.D., chief operating officer at Joint Commission, about building a culture of innovation.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Seattle, Wash.
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle are testing a simple idea with surprisingly big potential: a special type of foam that makes gene therapy more efficient.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Ochsner Heath
Louisiana
Ochsner Health is the first health care provider in Louisiana to offer artificial intelligence (AI)-powered technology to support treatment for atrial fibrillation (AFib), a condition affecting more than 6.1 million Americans.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Larry Pierce, director of cybersecurity and information security officer for Atlantic Health, unpacks how the growth of AI is reshaping cyber risk in health care, and why physical security is now inseparable from cybersecurity for America's hospitals and health systems.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Virginia Gay Hospital
Vinton, Iowa
In this conversation, Tina Eden, R.N., CEO of Virginia Gay Hospital, and Jacinda Bunch, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor at the Iowa College of Nursing and senior advisor to Simulation in Motion-Iowa (SIM-IA), dive into how this mobile clinical education program (SIM-IA) is delivering high-impact simulation training directly to rural hospitals and EMS teams.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Henry Ford Health
Detroit, Mich.
In this conversation, Wendy Kim, DNP, R.N., vice president and chief nursing officer of the central market at Henry Ford Health, shares how the system's virtual nursing program is reducing documentation burden, improving patient safety and giving nurses more time at the bedside.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
University Hospitals
Cleveland, Ohio
NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is testing portable, handheld X-ray systems that could allow crews to diagnose injuries such as broken bones or dental issues without returning to Earth.
Prevention and Wellness
Dartmouth Health
Lebanon, N.H.
Coping with illness, caregiving or loss can be deeply isolating, but Dartmouth Health’s ConnectShareCare platform offers a supportive online community to help people navigate these challenges.
Prevention and Wellness
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, S.C.
When a patient has depression, often the first medical professional to spot it is their primary care provider, thanks to routine screenings many offices offer. However, getting under the care of a behavioral health professional may involve a long wait — and the patient needs help now.
Prevention and Wellness
INTEGRIS Health
OKlahoma City, Okla.
INTEGRIS Health in Oklahoma has been working to meet people where they are with their Mobile Health Clinic, launched in March 2019.
Prevention and Wellness
Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital
Menomonee Falls, Wisc.
In this conversation, Shelley Hart, R.N., clinical nurse specialist at Froedtert Menomonee Falls Hospital, explores the hospital's inspiring journey toward delivering exceptional care for older adults.
Prevention and Wellness
Brighter Days Pediatric Mental Health Urgent Care Center, part of Golisano Children’s Hospital
Rochester, N.Y.
The Brighter Days Pediatric Mental Health Urgent Care Center, part of Golisano Children’s Hospital in Western New York, opened in June 2024 to provide walk-in mental health services for individuals under 18.
Prevention and Wellness
Canyon Vista Medical Center
Sierra Vista, Ariz.
For Canyon Vista Medical Center (CVMC) in Sierra Vista, Arizona, it’s all in the wrist. Its new Special Delivery Program equips postpartum patients with wristbands to wear for six weeks after childbirth, serving as a visual cue for both patients and health care providers to remain alert to potential complications.
Prevention and Wellness
Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville
Stephenville, Texas
At Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville, a new pulmonary rehabilitation program is transforming the way chronic respiratory diseases are treated in rural Erath County.
Prevention and Wellness
University of Washington School of Medicine
Seattle, Wash.
If you could predict your biological risk of death, would you want to know? Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle have developed a resource that does just that and more.
Prevention and Wellness
Boston Medical Center
Boston, Mass.
In this conversation, Boston Medical Center’s (BMC) Jeff Schneider, M.D., the associate chief medical officer, designated institutional official, and chair of the Graduate Medical Education Committee at Boston Medical Center, and Simone Martell, director of the employee resilience program, discuss how BMC is flipping the script on resident wellness.
Workforce
Children's Hospital Colorado
Aurora, Colo.
As a nurse at Children's Hospital Colorado, Kayla McCarthy works tirelessly to support children awaiting or recovering from organ transplants. Inspired by the resilience and strength of her young patients, McCarthy decided to become a living organ donor through UCHealth's program.
Workforce
Jason Lesandrini, Ph.D., and Kelsey White, Ph.D., discuss real-world examples of how chaplains reduce clinician and patient stress and address emotional and well-being needs in some of the most challenging moments in health care.
Workforce
In this Leadership Dialogue conversation, Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health and 2025 AHA board chair, talks with Lori Wightman, R.N., CEO of Bothwell Regional Health Center, about the challenges that rural hospitals and health systems face.
Workforce
Keck School of Medicine at USC
Los Angeles, Calif.
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California uses an immersive model called the Primary Care Initiative to inspire medical students to pursue careers in primary care.
Workforce
Copley Hospital
Morrisville, Vt.
To address workforce shortages in rural Vermont, Copley Hospital in Morrisville is among several hospitals participating in the Career Pathway Entry Program (CPEP) offered by the Community College of Vermont.
Workforce
Corewell Health
Grand Rapids, Mich.
In this conversation, Kristin Jacob, M.D., medical director of the Office of Physician and APP Fulfillment at Corewell Health West, discusses the organization’s foundation for well-being strategies, the successes they’ve had in reducing burnout, and the vital importance of "change agents" to propel the work forward.
Workforce
Providence
Renton, Wash.
Providence Health System has partnered with home-based care provider Compassus to offer home health, hospice, community-based palliative care, and private-duty caregiving services to patients across the country.
Workforce
Bartlett Regional Hospital
Juneau, Ala.
In 2018, collaborating with community partners to better serve its patients in the greater Juneau, Alaska region, Bartlett Regional Hospital implemented an emergency department information exchange system that made possible real-time information sharing that is imperative for coordinated care efforts.
Workforce
Adventist Health
Bakersfield, Calif.
Adventist Health’s unique mobile clinic — think of it as a doctor's office on wheels — helps families and their children in and around Bakersfield, Calif., by offering immunizations for young people from birth to 19 years old at various locations around Kern County.