Harrisburg, PA (July 31, 2023) – The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) announced today the health care teams being honored this year for championing organ, eye, and issue donation within their hospitals and communities.
The annual Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge encourages Pennsylvania hospitals to increase donation awareness. HAP partnered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the two organ procurement organizations serving Pennsylvania — the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and Gift of Life Donor Program — to support the challenge.
During National Donate Life Month in April, participating hospitals supported donation through activities such as internal trainings and coordination meetings, campaigns to register new organ donors, community events, and public communications. Hospitals earned titanium, platinum, gold, silver, or bronze level recognitions for their efforts.
This year, 107 Pennsylvania hospitals participated in the challenge. HAP applauds its members’ commitment to supporting and raising awareness of organ, eye, and tissue donation. One donor can save up to eight lives and enhance up to 75 others.
“Organ, eye, and tissue donors are critical to helping hospital teams save and improve lives,” said HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings. “HAP applauds the outstanding work of Pennsylvania hospitals and our partners to support and raise awareness about donation. These efforts reflect hospital teams’ commitment to strengthening the health of their communities.”
The top performers of the 2023 HAP Donate Life Pennsylvania Hospital Challenge are:
Gift of Life Donor Program Top Performers (Eastern half of Pennsylvania)
Top Health Systems
- First Place: Temple University Health System
- Second Place: UPMC North Central PA
- Third Place: Tower Health
Top Hospitals
- First Place: Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
- Second Place: Temple University Hospital
- Third Place: UPMC Williamsport
CORE Top Performers (Western Pennsylvania)
Top Health Systems
- First Place: Allegheny Health Network
- Second Place: Butler Health System (includes Butler Memorial Hospital and Clarion Hospital, which are now a part of Independence Health System)
- Third Place: Conemaugh Health System
Top Hospitals
- First Place: UPMC Presbyterian Hospital
- Second Place: AHN Canonsburg Hospital
- Third Place: AHN Jefferson Hospital
A full list of hospital designations resulting from the challenge and more information about the scoring process are available online.
“Organ and tissue donation helps to save and improve the lives of people each day in our country,” said Dr. Debra Bogen, Acting Secretary of Health. “Thank you to the many healthcare professionals across Pennsylvania who increase awareness of organ and tissue donation and deliver this life-saving care. Please join the hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who have already registered to be an organ and tissue donor so more people can receive this incredible gift (https://donatelifepa.org/register/).”
“CORE commends HAP and our hospital partners for their continued commitment to championing donation. Their unwavering support, coupled with the generosity of our community, continues to make Pennsylvania a leader in organ donation,” said Susan Stuart, President and CEO of CORE. “While recognizing the significance that these awards hold, the truest measure of success for CORE and our hospital partners has been, and will always be, those whose lives are saved and healed through donation.”
“Gift of Life Donor Program applauds HAP and our hospital partners for bringing the inspiring message of donation and transplantation to countless patients, families, and staff through the HAP Donate Life Hospital Challenge. Together with our generous community, we made history in April with the most organ donors and life-saving organs for transplant ever in one month in the U.S.,” said Rick Hasz, President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program. “We are grateful to our hospital partners for their strong commitment to clinical best practices along with the compassionate care and support they provide for donor heroes and families. Through our close collaboration, we have made Pennsylvania a leader in organ donation and we will keep striving for the day when each waitlist patient receives a second chance at life.”
About HAP: HAP is a statewide membership services organization that represents 235 hospitals as well as the patients and communities they serve. Additional information about HAP is available online.
About CORE: The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) is one of 56 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States, serving more than five million people in western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. CORE coordinates the recovery and matching of organs, tissues and corneas for transplant within our service region, and works tirelessly to create a culture of donation within the hospitals and communities we serve. CORE’s mission is to Save and Heal lives through donation, ultimately ending the deaths of those on the transplant waiting list, while
maintaining integrity for the donation process, dignity for the donors, and compassion for their families. CORE is a winner of the 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a presidential award that recognizes nonprofits for their innovation and excellence. For more information, visit
www.core.org or call 1-800-DONORS-7.
About Gift of Life Donor Program: Gift of Life Donor Program is the non-profit, federally designated organ procurement organization, working with 126 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers to serve 11.3 million people in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Thanks to its compassionate community, for the past 15 years, Gift of Life has coordinated the most organ donors in the United States. Its annual donation rate, most recently 61 organ donors-per-million-population, ranks among the highest in the world. Since 1974, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 58,000 organs for transplant, and more than two million tissue transplants have resulted from the generosity of donors and their families. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people, and a tissue donor can improve the lives of about 100 others. For more information or to register, visit donors1.org.
About Donate Life Pennsylvania: Donate Life Pennsylvania is a collaborative initiative between the Pennsylvania departments of Health, Education and Transportation and Pennsylvania’s two organ procurement organizations, the Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) and Gift of Life Donor Program (GOL). It is funded by residents of Pennsylvania through voluntary contributions included with driver’s license renewals, vehicle registrations and state income tax filings or direct donations to the Governor Robert P. Casey Memorial Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Trust Fund in care of the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Trust Fund contributions are used to educate Pennsylvanians, build awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation, and increase the number of people who sign up to become organ donors on their driver’s license or state identification card. More information is available at donatelifepa.org or facebook.com/DonateLifePennsylvania.