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
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.
Innovation, Research, and Quality Improvement
MUSC Health
Charleston, S.C.
In this conversation, Caroline DeLongchamps, director of the patient-and family-centered care program at MUSC Health, shares her powerful personal story and explains how patient and family-centered care can improve quality, strengthen trust, and transform how care is designed and delivered.
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
Berkshire Medical Center’s Operation Better Start is a collaborative effort among health care providers to help young people and their families make and sustain positive changes in their health.
Ensuring Access to Care
Paramedics in a mobile medical unit from Henry Ford Health are visiting new mothers at home to check their vitals as part of an initiative to help reduce pregnancy-related deaths across Michigan.
Ensuring Access to Care
In April, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics opened a new 30-room short stay unit to help ease overcrowding and streamline the hospital experience for short-term patients requiring observation
Ensuring Access to Care
In May, New Orleans East Hospital joined its LCMC Health sister hospital, Touro, to open a Maternal Fetal Health Clinic to ensure equitable prenatal care is available for patients in eastern New Orleans.
Ensuring Access to Care
ChristianaCare has teamed up with Kuumba Academy Charter School in Wilmington, Delaware, to establish a new student-based health center that will provide onsite preventive care, mental health care and acute care services for all 637 Kuumba Academy students.
Ensuring Access to Care
Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJC) invests millions of dollars and many volunteer hours in the St. Louis community each year, and the impact can be seen in the thousands of people whose lives are better today as a result.
Ensuring Access to Care
Stanford Children’s is committed to improving access to primary care for children, teens and expectant mothers.
Ensuring Access to Care
Holy Cross has established community benefit programs to help residents obtain the care needed to maintain a healthy life and give the next generation of families a healthy start.
Benefiting Communities
Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, Ohio
In this conversation, Vickie Johnson, executive vice president and chief community officer at Cleveland Clinic, discusses how the medical center is confronting food insecurity by treating food as a vital part of health care.
Benefiting Communities
RWJBarnabas Health
West Orange N.J.
The opening in May 2025 of New Jersey's first freestanding cancer hospital, the Jack & Sheryl Morris Cancer Center, brings renewed hope for cancer patients and their families.
Benefiting Communities
Cary Medical Center
Caribou, Maine
Cary Medical Center, a 63-bed hospital in rural Caribou, Maine, created the Siruno Stroke Prevention Program to help community members develop and maintain healthy lifestyle habits.
Benefiting Communities
Saint Francis Hospital
Hartford, Conn.
A recent community health needs assessment conducted by Saint Francis Hospital and local organizations in Hartford, Conn., indicated that 26% of Hartford residents have difficulty paying for food and 17% have difficulty paying for housing.
Benefiting Communities
Corewell Health
Grand Rapids, Mich.
To celebrate Community Health Improvement (CHI) Week, June 9 – June 13, two experts from Corewell Health share how an impactful health care ecosystem model is supporting local Michigan communities
Benefiting Communities
Essentia Health-Fargo has introduced a brightly colored, ocean-themed sensory path in its pre-op space to make the environment more engaging for kids.
Benefiting Communities
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
Los Angeles, Calif.
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, made a major discovery in understanding how the brain may help regulate hearing.
Benefiting Communities
In this conversation, Duke University's Anna Tharakan, lead project manager on Closing the Gap on Hypertension Disparities, and Bradi Granger, Ph.D., research professor at Duke University School of Nursing and director of the Duke Heart Center Nursing Research Program, discuss how Duke’s team is reducing disparities in hypertension.
Benefiting Communities
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Los Angeles, Calif.
When the Eaton and Palisades wildfires devastated areas of Los Angeles County earlier this year, they sparked a swift response from students at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center
Las Vegas
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas recently introduced technology to treat heart rhythm disorders, building on the hospital’s earlier success using pulse field ablation — the delivery of electrical pulses to kill cells causing the irregular heart rhythm.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
In this conversation, Ajay Gupta, board chair of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic and CEO of HSR.health, speaks about the vital role hospital boards play in preparing for and responding to cyber incidents.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Cedars-Sinai
Los Angeles
Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles is reaching for the stars with the May launch of its Center for Space Medicine Research. The center studies space biomedicine, a branch of medicine that examines the physiological and biological effects of spaceflight on the human body.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
The Arkansas Children’s Research Institute is building on earlier research findings to investigate how exposure to “forever chemicals” affects child development.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
. In this conversation, Ochsner Health's Stephen Saenz, sepsis program manager, and Teresa Arrington, director of robust process improvement for quality & patient safety, reveal how a mix of smart technology, clinician-led design and flexible implementation reduced sepsis-related mortality by 20% across its health system
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
When Crystal arrived at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance to deliver her third child, she was met with a new approach to childbirth that immediately put her at ease.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
UVA Health
Charlottesville, Va.
At UVA Health, the iconic orange plastic pill bottle is getting a makeover.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is growing its integrated, multidisciplinary care for infants and children who have been exposed to opioids while in utero.
Innovation, Research and Quality Improvement
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Ark.
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is working to enhance their cancer treatment research with a nearly $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Prevention and Wellness
OHSU Hospital
Portland, Ore.
In this new “Caring for Our Kids” episode, David Wagner, Ph.D., pediatric psychologist at OHSU, discusses the Novel Interventions in Children's Healthcare (NICH) program, and how this innovative approach is transforming care for vulnerable children.
Prevention and Wellness
Doernbecher Children's Hospital
Portland, Ore.
OHSU Doernbecher launched the Nourish program in 2022 to provide parents and caregivers with food during hospital stays.
Prevention and Wellness
Texas Children's Hospital
Houston, Texas
The journey isn’t over after a child beats cancer — at least not at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Prevention and Wellness
Englewood Health
Englewood, N.J.
In this conversation, Vinnidhy Dave, D.O., hospice specialist and director of palliative medicine at Englewood Health Physician Network, and Lauren Savage, director of population health at Englewood Hospital, discuss what Englewood Health is doing to prevent opioid use in its communities.
Prevention and Wellness
Henry Ford Health
Detroit, Mich.
The SOS MATERNITY Network, led by Wayne State University’s Office of Women’s Health, has been launched to address high maternal and infant mortality rates in Michigan.
Prevention and Wellness
Northern Light Health
Brewer, Maine
Northern Light Mercy Hospital’s Cancer Survivorship Clinic helps patients who have finished cancer treatment rebuild their health and enjoy a high quality of life.
Prevention and Wellness
Access to high-quality health care is crucial to a community’s well-being, but it’s not the only component of health.
Prevention and Wellness
Hartford HealthCare
Hartford, Conn.
Since opening its doors in 1824, Hartford HealthCare’s Institute of Living has prioritized providing quality care and “moral treatment” to patients and families. The institute’s team is now introducing the concept of “radical recovery” as it works to reshape behavioral health care.
Prevention and Wellness
University of Vermont Medical
Center Burlington, Vt.
The holiday season can bring incredible joy as well as considerable pressure to spend money — lots of it — on gifts. For some people, holiday gift-giving can cause anxiety and even prompt compulsive behavior.
Workforce
Mass General Brigham
Boston, Mass.
In today's health care field, leaders must address a multitude of complex and intertwined challenges. One of the most important is supporting the well-being of their clinicians.
Workforce
Grady Health System
Atlanta, Ga.
Grady Health System’s Yolanda Wimberly, M.D., senior vice president and chief health equity officer, and Felicia Mobley, Ph.D., director of health equity, discuss their new teen experience and leadership program.
Workforce
Providence Alaska Medical Center
Anchorage, Ala.
PAMC has helped refugees from countries like Sudan, Afghanistan and Ukraine undergo training and secure employment and benefits in a variety of positions at the hospital.
Workforce
MaineHealth
Portland, Maine
The MaineHealth Center for Workforce Development creates and strengthens employment and growth opportunities for current employees, students interested in health careers and others in the community.
Workforce
In this podcast that highlights a new report from the AHA detailing these factors, Philip Pandolph, president and CEO, Meadville (PA) Medical Center and Chair of the AHA Rural Health Services Committee, explains how rising costs for supplies and equipment, drugs, and labor, along with inflation and razor thin margins has left his hospital vulnerable.